Primary Microglia Isolation from Postnatal Mouse Brains

Microglia are the mononuclear phagocytes in the central nervous system (CNS), which play key roles in maintaining homeostasis and regulating the inflammatory process in the CNS. To study the microglial biology in vitro, primary microglia show great advantages compared to immortalized microglial cell lines. However, microglia isolation from the postnatal mouse brain is relatively less efficient and time-consuming. In this protocol, we provide a quick and easy-to-follow method to isolate primary microglia from the neonatal mouse brain. The overall steps of this protocol include brain dissection, primary brain cell culture, and microglia isolation. Using this approach, researchers can obtain primary microglia with high purity. In addition, the harvested primary microglia were able to respond to the lipopolysaccharides challenge, indicating they retained their immune function. Collectively, we developed a simplified approach to efficiently isolate primary microglia with high purity, which facilitates a wide range of microglial biology investigations in vitro.