Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC's) refers to blood cells having a round shaped nucleus (i.e. lymphocytes and Monocytes). Physiologically, these cells are critical components of the defense mechanism against infection.
PBMC can be isolated from whole blood samples using different density gradient centrifugation procedures. Anticoagulated whole blood is layered over the separating medium. At the end of the centrifugation step, the following layers are visually observed from top to bottom: plasma/platelets, PBMC, separating medium and erythrocytes / granulocytes. The PBMC layer is then removed and washed to get rid of some contaminants before cell type and cell viability can be confirmed.
PBMC extraction procedures have many different applications such as: ·Assess the level of biological immune functions (ex. MLR, lymphoblastic transformation, Natural Killer cells) ·Quantitate specific cell phenotypes (i.e., T and B lymphocytes) ·Determine the amount of a specific drug within these cells ·Evaluate in vitro, the influence of a test article/drug on lymphocytes
