The quality of starting material is important for any experiment, and a perfect single-cell suspension is a prerequisite for many downstream applications. Glioblastoma, neuroblastoma, medulloblastoma, xenograft brain tumor samples can be effectively dissociated into single-cell suspensions using the Brain Tumor Dissociation Kit (P) and a gentleMACS™ Dissociator.
The Brain Tumor Dissociation Kit (P) is based on papain. The antigens GLAST (ACSA-1) and PSA-NCAM used to identify some neural populations are sensitive to papain. Immune cell epitopes are also sensitive to papain. If preservation of these antigen epitopes is required for downstream applications, it is more suitable to use in this case the Tumor Dissociation Kit, mouse (# 130-096-730) or Tumor Dissociation Kit, human (# 130-095-929) depending on the species from where the tumor originated.