Non-conditioned bone marrow chimeric mouse generation using culture-based enrichment of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells

Nat Commun. 2021 Jun 11;12(1):3568. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23763-z.

Abstract

Bone marrow (BM) chimeric mice are a valuable tool in the field of immunology, with the genetic manipulation of donor cells widely used to study gene function under physiological and pathological settings. To date, however, BM chimera protocols require myeloablative conditioning of recipient mice, which dramatically alters steady-state hematopoiesis. Additionally, most protocols use fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) for ex vivo genetic manipulation. Here, we describe our development of cell culture techniques for the enrichment of functional HSPCs from mouse BM without the use of FACS purification. Furthermore, the large number of HSPCs derived from these cultures generate BM chimeric mice without irradiation. These HSPC cultures can also be genetically manipulated by viral transduction, to allow for doxycycline-inducible transgene expression in donor-derived immune cells within non-conditioned immunocompetent recipients. This technique is therefore expected to overcome current limitations in mouse transplantation models.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bone Marrow / metabolism*
  • Bone Marrow Cells
  • Bone Marrow Transplantation*
  • Chimera / metabolism*
  • Gene Transfer Techniques
  • Genetic Engineering
  • Genetic Therapy
  • Hematopoiesis
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cells / metabolism*
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Transplantation Chimera