Amplification and identification of porcine bone marrow-derived dendritic cells in vitro

Objective To amplify dendritic cells(DC) from porcine bone marrow and study their morphological,immunological characteristics. Methods Lymphocytes in porcine bone marrow were isolated on a Ficoll separation gradient. The selected cells were cultured with granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor(GM CSF), and the suspensive cells were collected 2 weeks after cultivation. The morphological features and numbers of DC were identified and counted with light microscopy. The co stimulation molecules on membrane surface were studied by FACS. The function was observed by means of MLR. Results The percentage of DC was 70%～80% in the DC enriched populations as confirmed under microscope. The cells showed typical morphology of DC and expressed high level of B7 molecules and were potent stimulators of human T cells in MLR. Conclusion The method to generate large numbers of DCs from porcine bone marrow is established, which might contribute to further study on the role of DC in xenotransplantation and tolerance induction.