The selective removal of red blood cells from bone marrow cell suspensions

A method for the selective removal of red blood cells (RBC) from bone marrow cell suspension is described. The technique is based on the use of a dense (D = 1.090) Ficoll gradient, and a low speed centrifugation. Results show that more than 90% of the nucleated cells (NC) could be collected by this technique. RBC contamination in the NC fraction was less than 1 RBC per 8 NC. 1 NC per 1300 or more RBC was found in the pellet. This method may provide a useful step in the standardization of the bone marrow cell suspension for in vitro studies on colony forming cells as well as for any other experiment requiring purified red cell or nucleated cell populations.