METHODS FOR SEPARATION OF LYMPHOCYTES

  • 1 January 1975
    • journal article
    • review article
    • Vol. 34  (7) , 1105-1122
Abstract
The currently available methods for lymphocyte separation, with particular reference to their effectiveness, were reviewed. The following 5 methods are generally used: cytolytic treatment of the cells with antisera against differentiation antigens in the presence of complement; rosette separation, which includes rosette formation with sheep erythrocytes (SE) or antigen-coated SE for the isolation of antigen-binding lymphocytes, rosette formation by antigen-antibody-complement complexes (B cell rosettes) and rosette formation with SE by human T lymphocytes; incubation of lymphoid cells over monolayers of fibroblasts or tumor cells to isolate lymphocytes having receptors for foreign transplantation or tumor antigens; fractionation in columns coated with antigens, antibodies against differentiation antigens, etc; and automatic fluorescence-activated cell sorter, yielding the highest specific accumulation of lymphocytes, with antigen-binding cells and immunoglobulin-positive lymphocytes. The latter method can be used for the preparation of small cell quantities only.