Cell isolation and culture

Abstract

Cell isolation and culture are essential tools for the study of cell function. Isolated cells grown under controlled conditions can be manipulated and imaged at a level of resolution that is not possible in whole animals or even tissue explants. Recent advances have allowed for large-scale isolation and culture of primary C. elegans cells from both embryos and all four larval stages. Isolated cells can be used for single-cell profiling, electrophysiology, and high-resolution microscopy to assay cell autonomous development and behavior. This chapter describes protocols for the isolation and culture of C. elegans embryonic and larval stage cells. Our protocols describe isolation of embryonic and L1 stage cells from nematodes grown on high-density NA22 bacterial plates and isolation of L2 through L4 stage cells from nematodes grown in axenic liquid culture. Both embryonic and larval cells can be isolated from nematode populations within 3 hours and can be cultured for several days. A primer on sterile cell culture techniques is given in the appendices.