Protocol Citation: Liam Gubbels, Shivanthan Shanthikumar, Melanie R Neeland 2024. Processing of pediatric nasal and bronchial brushing samples for single cell analysis. protocols.io https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.5jyl8p379g2w/v1
License: This is an open access protocol distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
This protocol describes the collection, processing, and cryopreservation of pediatric nasal and bronchial brushing samples for downstream single-cell analysis.
Guidelines
This is an experimental protocol for the processing of nasal and bronchial brushing samples collected from children. Sample collection must have and be compliant with Human Ethics Committee approval.
Human samples should be processed in a laboratory with appropriate biosafety infrastructure and procedures
COLLECTION OF NASAL AND BRONCHIAL BRUSHINGS
COLLECTION OF NASAL AND BRONCHIAL BRUSHINGS
Prepare collection tubes for nasal and bronchial brushing samples by adding 5mL of pre-chilled RPMI supplemented with 2% heat-inactivated fetal calf serum (referred to as RPMI 2% FCS) to a 15mL tube labelled with the study/patient ID.
After obtaining informed consent from family and/or patient, collect brushings using a suitable cytology brush.
For nasal brushing: Cytology Brush Ring Handle 3.00mm X 120.00cmConmedCatalog #149
Brushing samples must be placed on ice and processed in the laboratory within 00:30:00 of the procedure.
30m
PROCESSING OF NASAL AND BRONCHIAL BRUSHINGS TO SINGLE CELL SUSPENSION
PROCESSING OF NASAL AND BRONCHIAL BRUSHINGS TO SINGLE CELL SUSPENSION
Repeatedly pipette media onto brushing to dislodge cells. Do this for at least 1 minute
per brushing. Remove cytology brush and top up the cell suspension to 10mL with RPMI 2% FCS
Filter cell suspension through a 70-120µm cell strainer into a new 15mL tube and centrifuge300 x g, 4°C, 00:07:00 .
7m
Discard supernatant and resuspend cell pellet in 3mL RPMI 2% FCS.
Prepare cell suspension for cell counting. Here, we use AO/PI and the LUNA FL counter. Remove 18µL for cell counting into a microcentrifuge tube. Add 2µL of AO/PI to the count tube and mix well.
Load 10µL of stained cells onto a Luna fluorescent counting slide and count. Record viability, total cell count, and live cell count.
Note
Cell counting can be performed manually using a haemocytometer, or using other automated cell counters.
Top up remaining cell suspension to 10mL with RPMI 2% FCS, centrifuge 300 x g, 4°C, 00:07:00 and remove supernatant.
7m
If choosing to run flow cytometry or other single cell assays on fresh cells, here is where you can allocate the required number of cells for downstream processing. For flow cytometry, described below, we allocate 300,000 cells prior to proceeding to cryopreservation for remaining cells.
CRYOPRESERVATION OF NASAL AND BRONCHIAL BRUSHING CELLS
CRYOPRESERVATION OF NASAL AND BRONCHIAL BRUSHING CELLS
Resuspend cells at a ratio of 1:1 in RPMI 2% FCS and freeze solution (heat-inactivated FCS + 15% DMSO) such that cells are frozen between 1-10 million cells/mL. Transfer cells to cryogenic vial.
Immediately place cryogenic vials into an isopropanol freezing container (e.g. Nalgene‱ Mr. Frosty) or Cool Cell (Corning) and transfer to -80 °C overnight.
For long term storage, transfer the vials to liquid nitrogen.
PREPARATION OF FRESH CELLS FOR FLOW CYTOMETRY
PREPARATION OF FRESH CELLS FOR FLOW CYTOMETRY
45m
Resuspend cell suspension for fixable viability staining according to manufacturers' instructions (e.g. the LIVE/DEAD‱ Fixable Near-IR Stain from Invitrogen/ThermoFisher).
Following the required incubation, stop the reaction by the addition of 1mL staining buffer (2% heat-inactivated FCS in PBMS 2mM EDTA, herein referred to as FACS buffer) and centrifuge at
400 x g, 4°C, 00:05:00
5m
Resuspend cells in 25µL of FC-block for 00:05:00 at Room temperature.
5m
The next steps will depend on the requirements for your specific panel. As an example, we have attached our 17-plex spectral cytometry panel that we routinely use on paediatric airway samples, as well as a publication describing the application of this panel. All of the following steps are related to this panel.
nasal_bronchial_BAL_panel.pdf114KB
CITATION
Neeland MR, Gubbels L, Tsz Chun Wong A, Walker H, Ranganathan SC, Shanthikumar S (2024). Pulmonary immune profiling reveals common inflammatory endotypes of childhood wheeze and suppurative lung disease..
Add 25µL of antibody cocktail made up at 2X concentration and incubate for 00:30:00On ice .
30m
Following staining, wash cells with 2mL FACS buffer, centrifuge at 400 x g, 4°C, 00:05:00 and resuspend cells in 200µL FACS buffer for acquisition on a flow cytometer (here, a Cytek 5L Aurora).
5m
Immediately before running the sample, filter the cell suspension through a 35 µm cell strainer ( Falcon‱ 352235).