Sorting strategy for the isolation of CD34⁺CD146⁺CD31⁺CD45⁻ cells from spleen-derived MNCs. Splenic MNCs were first enriched in CD34⁺ cells by immunomagnetic selection, followed by staining with anti-CD146, anti-CD31, and anti-CD45 mAbs, and then sorted according to CD34, CD31, and CD146 positive and CD45 negative expression. Contaminating platelets were excluded by size gating.