Use of magnetic techniques for the isolation of cells

Magnetic separation is an emerging technology using magnetism, sometimes in combination with conventional separation or identification methods, to pur ify cells, cell organelles and biologically active compounds (nucleic acids , proteins, xenobiotics) directly from crude samples. Several magnetic sepa ration procedures have been developed to isolate target cells specifically. The purpose of this short review is to summarize various methodologies, st rategies and materials which can be employed for the selection and separati on of target cells with the help of magnetic field and thus to help the nov ices in this field to be able to orient themselves in vast amount of litera ture available. Immunomagnetic separations employing specific antibodies to label the target cells represent the most often used approach and are disc ussed in detail. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science BN. All rights reserved.