Hello,
What is the best way to detect and identify macrophages in blood samples?
I guess using flow cytometry with labelled-antibodies targeting macrophages M1 and/or M2 analyses could be a good method but does anyone know precisely how to perform such an experiment?
Thank you in advance for your answer.
Dear Romain,
the cells of the monocyte/macrophage lineage thatare found in blood are called monocytes. The term macrophages is restricted to cells in tissue and M2 macrophages are cells that have been exposed to IL-4 and M1 macrophages are cells that have been exposed to LPS and IFNgamma. M1 and M2 is not used in the context of monocytes in blood.
So what you do in order to identify monocytes is to stain with antibodies CD14 and CD16 multicolor flow cytometry. This will identify total monocytes and the three subsets. For more details see www.monocyte.eu and the enclosed papers.
Best wishes
Loems
You won't detect macrophages in blood samples - they are derived from blood monocytes after monocytes exit the vasculature and enter tissues. Blood monocytes can be identified and isolated by labelling with anti CD 14 antibodies.
Dear Loems and Caroline,
Thank you very much both for your precise and detailed answers.
Best regards.
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