Purification of human monocytes/macrophages by adherence to cytodex microcarriers

Adherence to cytodex microcarries was used as a means of purifying and culturing human monocytes. Mononuclear leukocytes obtained from centrifugation of blood on Hypaque-Ficoll medium could be enriched for monocytes/macrophages by adherence to cytodex microcarriers. Using this system it was possible to obtain monocytes/macrophages in high yields and viability, and good purity. Detachment of the monocytes from the microcarriers was simply achieved by a 1-2 min agitation of the contents. Cells which had been cultured up to 30 days on the microcarriers could be similarly detached. Functional studies on the detached monocytes macrophages showed the cells to respond well to stimuli such as zymosan and fMLP, and were capable of killing opsonized bacteria.