Journal: Cells
Article Title: Astro-Versus Microglia-Enriched Transcriptomes from Aged Atxn2 -CAG100-Knockin Mice Suggest Underlying Pathology of RNA Processing at Ribosomes, and Possibly at U-Bodies
doi: 10.3390/cells15080699
Figure Lengend Snippet: Schematic workflow for adult brain dissociation and sequential isolation of cell types (microglia, astrocytes, and neurons). Tissue is harvested rapidly, placed in ice-cold DPBS with Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ , and cut into small pieces, then transferred to C-tubes and dissociated by a combination of enzymatic buffer solution containing papain with gentle mechanical dissociation, using a gentleMACS Octo Dissociator with heaters. Gradient centrifugation forms a compact ring containing debris (dead cells and myelin). After debris removal, red blood cells are lysed, and the dissociated cells are magnetically labeled with anti-CD11b MicroBeads against microglia. The labeled cells are passed through LS columns twice and placed on a magnetic stand. CD11b-positively selected cells remain in the column and are eluted with a plunger into a fresh tube. The negative flow-through is processed to isolate astrocytes labeled with anti-ACSA2 MicroBeads, and the process is repeated. For neuron isolation, the negative flow-through from astrocyte extraction is labeled with a non-neuronal biotin cocktail and anti-biotin MicroBeads, and the subsequent negative flow-through contains the neuron population. The arrows show the workflow handling of the cell suspensions. Image created in BioRender, Reddy, A. (2026) https://BioRender.com/mj9rqid , last accessed on 2 March 2026 and adapted from .
Article Snippet: After 5 min, 20 μL of anti-biotin MicroBeads (Miltenyi #130-115-390) and 10 μL of CD31 MicroBeads (Miltenyi #130-097-418) were added to the cell suspension and incubated at 2–8 °C for 12 min. A final volume of 500 μL of cell mixture was allowed to flow through the LS columns.
Techniques: Isolation, Gentle, Gradient Centrifugation, Labeling, Extraction