Immunosurgery is a method of selectively removing the external

cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life Cell may also refer to: Locations * Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery w ...

layer (

trophoblast The trophoblast (from Greek : to feed; and : germinator) is the outer layer of cells of the blastocyst. Trophoblasts are present four days after fertilization in humans. They provide nutrients to the embryo and develop into a large part of the pl ...

) of a

blastocyst The blastocyst is a structure formed in the early embryonic development of mammals. It possesses an inner cell mass (ICM) also known as the ''embryoblast'' which subsequently forms the embryo, and an outer layer of trophoblast cells called the t ...

through a

cytotoxicity Cytotoxicity is the quality of being toxic to cells. Examples of toxic agents are an immune cell or some types of venom, e.g. from the puff adder (''Bitis arietans'') or brown recluse spider (''Loxosceles reclusa''). Cell physiology Treating cells ...

procedure. The protocol for immunosurgery includes preincubation with an

antiserum Antiserum is a blood serum containing monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies that is used to spread passive immunity to many diseases via blood donation (plasmapheresis). For example, convalescent serum, passive antibody transfusion from a previous ...

, rinsing it with

embryonic stem cell Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst, an early-stage pre- implantation embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization, at which time they consi ...

derivation media to remove the antibodies, exposing it to

complement A complement is something that completes something else. Complement may refer specifically to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class ...

, and then removing the lysed trophoectoderm through a pipette. This technique is used to isolate the

inner cell mass The inner cell mass (ICM) or embryoblast (known as the pluriblast in marsupials) is a structure in the early development of an embryo. It is the mass of cells inside the blastocyst that will eventually give rise to the definitive structures of ...

of the blastocyst. The trophoectoderm's

cell junction Cell junctions (or intercellular bridges) are a class of cellular structures consisting of multiprotein complexes that provide contact or adhesion between neighboring cells or between a cell and the extracellular matrix in animals. They also main ...

s and tight

epithelium Epithelium or epithelial tissue is one of the four basic types of animal tissue, along with connective tissue, muscle tissue and nervous tissue. It is a thin, continuous, protective layer of compactly packed cells with a little intercellul ...

"shield" the ICM from antibody binding by effectively making the cell impermeable to

macromolecule A macromolecule is a very large molecule important to biophysical processes, such as a protein or nucleic acid. It is composed of thousands of covalently bonded atoms. Many macromolecules are polymers of smaller molecules called monomers. The ...

s. Immunosurgery can be used to obtain large quantities of pure inner cell masses in a relatively short period of time. The ICM obtained can then be used for

stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...

research and is better to use than adult or fetal stem cells because the ICM has not been affected by external factors, such as manually bisecting the cell. However, if the structural integrity of the blastocyst is compromised prior to the experiment, the ICM is susceptible to the immunological reaction. Thus, the quality of the

embryo An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male spe ...

used is imperative to the experiment's success. In addition, when using complement derived from animals, the source of the animals matters. They should be kept in a

specific-pathogen-free Specific-pathogen-free (SPF) is a term used for laboratory animals that are guaranteed free of particular pathogens. Use of SPF animals ensures that specified diseases do not interfere with an experiment. For example, absence of respiratory pathog ...

environment to increase the likelihood that the animal has not developed natural antibodies against the bacterial carbohydrates present in the serum (which can be obtained from a different animal). Solter and Knowles developed the first method of immunosurgery with their 1975 paper ''"Immunosurgery of Mouse Blastocyst"''. They primarily used it for studying early

embryonic development An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sperm ...

. Though immunosurgery is the most prevalent method of ICM isolation, various experiments have improved the process, such as through the use of lasers (performed by Tanaka, ''et al.'') and micromanipulators (performed by Ding, ''et al.'').Yan Ding, Yi Gan, Jing Bo Feng, Shao Hua Qi, Rui Ming Li, Dong Sheng Li. "Efficient isolation inner cell mass from blastocysts by improved microsurgical technique". Cell Research (2008) 18:s39. doi: 10.1038/cr.2008.129; published online 4 August 2008 These new methods reduce the risk of contamination with animal materials within the

s derived from the ICM, which can cause complications later on if the embryonic stem cells are transplanted into a human for

cell therapy Cell therapy (also called cellular therapy, cell transplantation, or cytotherapy) is a therapy in which viable cells are injected, grafted or implanted into a patient in order to effectuate a medicinal effect, for example, by transplanting T-c ...

References

Wikipedia articles with sections published in WikiJournal of Medicine Immunology Surgery {{biology-stub