Immunomagnetic
cell sorting - comparison of methods
Institute of
Medical Microbiology and Immunology, The Panum
Institute,
(j.pravsgaard@immi.ku.dk)
Purification
of cells is often used to demonstrate specific functions of a cell subset. This
purification can be achieved either by flow sorting or by separation with
magnetic beads. Several considerations must be taken into account before
choosing the appropriate methods for separation. Beside the obvious point of
availably instruments, some points to think about are price, no. of
separations, no. of parameters needed for separation, quality of cells and
purity. Although the purity generally are lower with
magnetic beads compared to flow sorting, many assays work quite well, and may
even give the same results, compared to sorting. Examples of how we have used
magnetic beads in our studies will be demonstrated.