title: Isolation, cultivation and characterization of adult murine prostate stem cells.
abstract: The successful isolation and cultivation of prostate stem cells will allow us to study their unique biological properties and their application in therapeutic approaches. Here we describe step-by-step procedures on the basis of previous work in our laboratory for the harvesting of primary prostate cells from adolescent male mice by a modified enzymatic procedure; the isolation of an enriched population of prostate stem cells through cell sorting; and the cultivation of prostate stem cells in vitro and characterization of these cells and their stem-like activity, including in vivo tubule regeneration. Normally, it will take approximately 8 h to harvest prostate cells, isolate the stem cell-enriched population and set up the in vitro sphere assay. It will take up to 8 weeks to analyze the unique properties of the stem cells, including their regenerative capacity in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: Rita U
authors.initials: RU
authors.lastname: Lukacs
authors.forename: Andrew S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.forename: Devon A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Lawson
authors.forename: Donghui
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Owen N
authors.initials: ON
authors.lastname: Witte
mesh_terms: D053687:Adult Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology / Q000637:transplantation; D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D016513:Mice, SCID; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D011467:Prostate / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D012038:Regeneration; D013234:Stem Cells