Polyglutaraldehyde microspheres

Abstract

Suspension polymerization of aqueous glutaraldehyde in basic conditions in presence of surfactants such as isobutoxy acrylamide copolymers and/or cross-linking agents yield cross-linked, water insoluble glutaraldehyde polymer microspheres ranging in size from 200 A to 10.mu.. Addition of fluorochromes, e.g., FITC, during polymerization yields microspheres of high fluorescent intensity and addition of a suspension of metal containing particles such as Fe.sub.3 O.sub.4 during polymerization yields magnetic microspheres. Immunopolyglutaraldehyde microspheres can be obtained by interacting the polyglutaraldehyde microspheres with antibodies. The immunomicrospheres were used to label and separate cell subpopulations. The labeling specificity is considerably improved by increasing the amount of isobutoxy polyacrylamide incorporated in the microspheres.

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