Brain and spinal cord tissues from mice perfused with PBS were digested with collagenase IV (Sigma-Aldrich) for 30 min at 37 °C, resuspended in 37 % Percoll, and loaded between a 30 and 70 % Percoll gradient. After centrifugation at 2000g for 20 min, CNS mononuclear cells were retrieved from the 37/70 % Percoll interface as previously done [38 (link)]. PMN- and MO-MDSC subsets were purified from CNS mononuclear cells by immunomagnetic separation using biotinylated anti-Ly6G and anti-Gr1 antibody and streptavidin-conjugated MicroBeads as mentioned above (Miltenyi Biotec). Cell purity was >95 % by flow cytometric analysis using anti-CD11b and Gr-1 antibodies.