Non-selective lymphocyte isolation from human blood by nylon wool filtration and density centrifugation

A new method was employed to isolate lymphocytes from human peripheral blood. Continuous flow filtration through a nylon wool filter, at a flow rate of 1.4 ml/min, produced a lymphocyte yield of 90.5% and a purity of 96% without any shift in the B-T cell ratio. Ficoll-Isopaque with a specific gravity of 1.085 g/ml instead of 1.077 g/ml could be used to remove the erythrocytes. An overall recovery, including defibrination, filtration, Ficoll-Isopaque centrifugation and washing step, of 74.5% was achieved.