How do you separate white blood cells from the rest of the blood?

Answer 1

White blood cells have a distinct forward and side scatter pattern. You can see this by doing flow cytometry on a blood sample. The white blood cells can then be separated by using a FACSorter.

Answer 2

You can use flow cytometry which doesn't actually separate the cells but gives an accurate count of the numbers. The apparatus exams and sorts microscopic particles suspended in a stream of fluid (plasma). To actually separate you would use a centrifuge. The role of a centrifuge in testing blood is to separate whole blood into its various components.

The resulting components are:
1. a clear solution of blood plasma in the upper phase
2. the buffy coat, which is a thin layer of leukocytes (white blood cells) mixed with platelets in the middle, and
3. erythrocytes (red blood cells) at the bottom of the centrifuge tube

Answer 3

White blood cells can be separated from the rest of the blood using a process called density gradient centrifugation. In this method, blood is layered on top of a solution with a higher density, such as Ficoll, and centrifuged. The white blood cells migrate to the interface between the blood and the density gradient solution, allowing them to be collected separately.