In vivo BrdU Incorporation Assay for Murine Hematopioetic Stem Cells

Abstract

Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) is a thymidine analog that is incorporated into DNA during the S-phase of the cell cycle. As such, BrdU incorporation can be used to quantify the number of cells that are in S-phase in the time period during which BrdU is available. The following protocol describes an in vivo BrdU incorporation assay as a measure of cell proliferation in adult murine hematopioetic stem cells (HSCs). Specifically, BrdU incorporation was analyzed for long-term HSCs (LT-HSCs, Lin-Sca-1+c-Kit+CD34-CD135-), Short-term HSCs (ST-HSCs, Lin-Sca-1+c-Kit+CD34+CD135-) and multipotent progenitors (MPPs, Lin-Sca-1+c-Kit+CD34+CD135+) population.