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Protocol for Studying Embryonic Mammary Gland Branching Morphogenesis Ex Vivo

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Mammary Stem Cells

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2471))

Abstract

Mammary gland development starts during embryogenesis, and the process continues after birth. During development, the mammary gland undergoes massive morphological and physiological alterations including growth, invasion, and branching morphogenesis providing an ideal model for stem cell and cancer biology studies. Great efforts have been made in understanding mammary gland development during puberty and adulthood; however, the process during embryogenesis is still elusive. One reason is that the tools to study tissue dynamics during development are limited, which is partially due to the lack of an ex vivo culture method. Here we describe an updated organ culture protocol of the murine embryonic mammary gland. This powerful tool allows monitoring of growth and branching morphogenesis of mammary gland ex vivo by live imaging. In addition, we introduce a novel method for culturing intact, stroma-free mammary rudiments from late gestation mouse embryos in 3D in Matrigel. This approach can be used to identify the direct stromal cues for branching morphogenesis.

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Acknowledgment

We thank Raija Savolainen and Maria Voutilainen for technical assistance and helpful discussions, and all the Mikkola lab members for the great support.

This work was supported by the Academy of Finland, the Cancer Society of Finland, the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, and the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cell and Tissue Dynamics Research Program, Institute of Biotechnology, Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Qiang Lan, Jyoti Satta, Satu-Marja Myllymäki, Ewelina Trela, Riitta Lindström, Beata Kaczyńska & Marja L. Mikkola

  2. Centre of Excellence in Stem Cell Metabolism, Institute of Biotechnology, Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Johanna Englund

Authors
  1. Qiang Lan
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  2. Jyoti Satta
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  3. Satu-Marja Myllymäki
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  4. Ewelina Trela
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  5. Riitta Lindström
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  6. Beata Kaczyńska
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  7. Johanna Englund
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  8. Marja L. Mikkola
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marja L. Mikkola .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Heterogeneity Laboratory, Centre for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE), Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Derio, Spain

    Maria dM. Vivanco

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© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

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Cite this protocol

Lan, Q. et al. (2022). Protocol for Studying Embryonic Mammary Gland Branching Morphogenesis Ex Vivo. In: Vivanco, M.d. (eds) Mammary Stem Cells. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2471. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2193-6_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2193-6_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-2192-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-2193-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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