An improved method for the purification of blood cells of turkeys.

Methods were developed to purify monocytes, heterophils, or erythrocytes from the whole blood of turkeys. After the bulk of thrombocytes was removed by centrifugation, blood was fractionated over a Ficoll-Hypaque discontinuous gradient. Five fractions were harvested separately, and two were further purified by attachment to a plastic surface and/or by lysis of erythrocytes. The monocyte fraction contained 41% +/- 1% monocytes, and the heterophil fraction contained 96% +/- 1% heterophils. The erythrocyte fraction showed a purity of 99.4% +/- 0.3%. These methods would be useful for various in vitro studies that require purified populations of blood cells.