Fetal bovine serum the harvesting of blood from the bovine fetus after the fetus is removed from the slaughtered cow. The blood is collected aseptically into a sterile container or blood bag and then allowed to clot. The normal method of collection is cardiac puncture, wherein a needle is inserted into the heart. This minimizes "the danger of serum contamination with micro-organisms from the fetus itself, and the environment". It is then centrifuged to remove the fibrin clot and the remaining blood cells from the clear yellow (straw) colored serum. The serum is frozen prior to further processing that is necessary to make
P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 is a glycoprotein found on white blood cells and endothelial cells that binds to P-selectin (P stands for platelet), which is one of a family of selectins that includes E-selectin (endothelial) and L-selectin (leukocyte). Selectins are part of the broader family of cell adhesion molecules. PSGL-1 can bind to all three members of the family but binds best (with the highest affinity) to P-selectin. PSGL-1 protein requires two distinct posttranslational modifications to gain its selectin binding activity: PSGL-1 is expressed on all white blood cells and plays an important role in the recruitment of white blood cells into inflamed tissue: