Bone Marrow Transplantation in Mice to Study the Role of Hematopoietic Cells in Atherosclerosis.

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation or bone marrow transplantation is a common approach to reconstitute the immune system of mice that have been subjected to marrow-ablative doses of radiation. This method can be used in the field of atherosclerosis to assess the contribution of hematopoietic cells of a desired genotype to disease pathogenesis. The engraftment of atherosclerosis-prone mice with donor cells that contain genetic alterations in cells of the innate or adaptive immune system has been invaluable to define the role of multiple gene products in atherosclerosis. Here, we describe the different steps involved in the bone marrow transplantation protocol along with specific guidelines regarding the theoretical and technical details of the procedure.