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Peripheral blood mononuclear cell

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by WLU (talk | contribs) at 22:36, 16 July 2010 (name). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 22:36, 16 July 2010 by WLU (talk | contribs) (name)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) For the internet slang term "PBMC", see ProblemBetweenMonitorChair.
It has been suggested that this article be merged into Agranulocyte. (Discuss) Proposed since February 2010.

A peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) is any blood cell having a round nucleus. For example: a lymphocyte, a monocyte or a macrophage. These blood cells are a critical component in the immune system to fight infection and adapt to intruders. The lymphocyte population consists of T cells (CD4 and CD8 positive ~75%), B cells and NK cells (~25% combined).

These cells are often extracted from whole blood using ficoll, a hydrophilic polysaccharide that separates layers of blood, with monocytes and lymphocytes forming a buffy coat under a layer of plasma. This buffy coat contains the PBMCs. Additionally, PBMC can be extracted from whole blood using a hypotonic lysis which will preferentially lyse red blood cells. This method results in neutrophils and other polymorphonuclear (PMN) cells which are important in innate immune defence being obtained.

PBMCs are widely used in research and clinical uses every day. HIV research uses them because PBMCs include CD4+ cells, which are the cells HIV infects.

See also Peripheral blood cell.

Research Applications

Many scientists conducting research in the fields of immunology (including auto-immune disorders), infectious disease, hematological malignancies, vaccine development, Transplant Immunology, and high-throughput screening are frequent users of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells. In many cases, PBMCs are derived from blood banks.

References

  1. Delves, Peter, et al. Roitt's Essential Immunology, 11th Ed. ISBN: 978-1-4051-3603-7
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