Analogy of Blood Cell Separation Using Syrup and Beans

Analogy of Blood Cell Separation Using Syrup and Beans

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Starting materials

Kidney beans (representing erythrocytes)
White lima beans (representing leucocytes)
Light colored corn syrup diluted to 67% with water. (I.e.: a 2:1 dilution). To this is added a few drops of yellow food coloring. This syrup solution represents Ficoll Cell Separation Fluid or LSM (lymphocyte separation medium)
Graduated cylinder
Narrow-stemmed funnel to which is attached a thin flexible tube.

Methods

1
Half fill the graduated cylinder with water.
Insert the funnel as shown
Pour in an equal volume of the colored syrup. Do so in such a fashion that bubbles are not continuous entrained to go down the funnel. Speed is probably your friend here.
Remove the funnel/tube arrangement. You should see a sharp demarcation between the two layers.

2 Take a 100 ml beaker of "blood," which is a mix of about 9 parts kidney beans and 1 part lima beans. Dump this into the cylinder. They will immediately begin to settle through the top water layer.
3 After a minute or two all the "red blood cells" will have settled through the syrup layer to rest on the bottom of the cylinder. The "white blood cells" are not dense enough to penetrate the syrup layer and form, instead, a layer at the interface between the two liquid layers.

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1	Half fill the graduated cylinder with water. Insert the funnel as shown Pour in an equal volume of the colored syrup. Do so in such a fashion that bubbles are not continuous entrained to go down the funnel. Speed is probably your friend here. Remove the funnel/tube arrangement. You should see a sharp demarcation between the two layers.
2	Take a 100 ml beaker of "blood," which is a mix of about 9 parts kidney beans and 1 part lima beans. Dump this into the cylinder. They will immediately begin to settle through the top water layer.
3	After a minute or two all the "red blood cells" will have settled through the syrup layer to rest on the bottom of the cylinder. The "white blood cells" are not dense enough to penetrate the syrup layer and form, instead, a layer at the interface between the two liquid layers.