Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC)

A peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) are any peripheral blood cell having a round nucleus. These cells consist of lymphocytes (T cells, B cells, NK cells) and monocytes, whereas erythrocytes and platelets have no nuclei, and neutrophils, basophils, and eosinophils have multi-lobed nuclei.

PBMC can be extracted from whole blood using ficoll, a hydrophilic polysaccharide that separates layers of blood, and gradient centrifugation, which will separate the blood into a top layer of plasma, followed by a layer of PBMCs and a bottom fraction of polymorphonuclear cells and erythrocytes. Studies indicate that induced or constitutively produced NKSF/IL-12 has a major role in facilitating IFN-gamma production by peripheral blood lymphocytes. PBMC can be used in research of immunology (including auto-immune disorders), infectious disease, hematological malignancies, vaccine development, Transplant Immunology and high-throughput screening.