Immunosurgery

Immunosurgery is a method of selectively removing the external cell layer (trophoblast) of a blastocyst through a cytotoxicity procedure.

The protocol for immunosurgery includes preincubation with an antiserum, rinsing it with embryonic stem cell derivation media to remove the antibodies, exposing it to complement, and then removing the lysed trophoectoderm through a pipette.

[2][3] Immunosurgery can be used to obtain large quantities of pure inner cell masses in a relatively short period of time.

[4][5] However, if the structural integrity of the blastocyst is compromised prior to the experiment, the ICM is susceptible to the immunological reaction.

[4][7] 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.).

Immunosurgery of a blastocyst . Antibodies are added that attach to the outermost layer of cells, which on a blastocyst is the trophoblast . After removing any unbound antibodies and adding complement , the trophoblast cells are destroyed, leaving only the inner cell mass . [ 1 ]