Magnetic enrichment of antibody-secreting cells

Amino acid polymer antigens have been covalently coupled to sheep erythrocytes (SRBC) and these have been used in the high gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) technique to enrich murine lymph node cells which had specific receptors for antigen. The method was rapid and provided excellent cell recovery including the fraction retained on the HGMS column. The system could be operated to enrich preformed rosettes, or as an affinity column when preloaded with antigen-coupled SRBC. A 10-fold enrichment of plaque-forming cells was observed in either mode. The HGMS system employed a conventional electromagnet and the fractionation procedure required about 30 min for a sample of up to 10 8 cells.