EasySep Ms Pan DC Enrich Kit II

Designed for the immunomagnetic negative selection of untouched dendritic cells (DCs) from mouse splenocytes, this kit from STEMCELL Technologies isolates highly purified conventional DCs (cDCs) and plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs). Capable of processing 2 x 10^9 cells, the kit may require optimization for single-cell suspensions from other tissue types.

The system targets non-DCs for removal using biotinylated antibodies that recognize specific cell surface markers. Unwanted cells are labeled with these antibodies and magnetic particles, then separated without columns using an EasySep™ magnet. Desired cells are simply poured off into a new tube, providing a fast, easy-to-use, and column-free workflow that is optimized for high yield and is described as achieving up to 65% purity. Isolated DCs are immediately available for downstream applications such as flow cytometry, culture, or DNA/RNA extraction, and the kit is noted to facilitate rapid flow sorting of DC subsets.

Starting with mouse splenocytes, the dendritic cell content (CD11c+lineage-) of the isolated fraction is typically 57.3 ± 5.5% (mean ± SD using the purple EasySep™ magnet), with example purities of the start and final enriched fractions at 3.9% and 62.4%, respectively. The kit is compatible with multiple magnet platforms including the EasySep™ magnet, "The Big Easy", EasyEights™, and the fully automated RoboSep™ system. Purity assessment by flow cytometry can be performed using markers such as CD11c and PDCA-1 (BST-2), with cDCs defined as Lin-CD11c+PDCA-1- and pDCs as Lin-CD11clowPDCA-1+.