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What Are Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells?
Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) are immune cells in the peripheral blood that have a single, round nucleus. PBMCs include lymphocytes, monocytes, and their derivative cells. For research and clinical purposes, mononuclear cells are isolated from leukopaks, which are blood samples enriched by extracting white blood cells from the peripheral blood.1,2
How Do Researchers Isolate PBMCs?What is leukapheresis?Scientists collect leukopaks from the peripheral blood of healthy human donors by leukapheresis—a procedure that separates blood components to collect specific cells and return the unneeded constituents back into circulation.1-3 Typically, health care professionals employ continuous flow centrifugation (CFC) to collect, spin, and return blood continuously while the donor is connected to an instrument called an apheresis circuit. CFC enriches and collects PBMCs by separating whole blood into fractions based on density. Beneath the plasma ...
