A method is described where superparamagnetic polymer microspheres coated with monoclonal antibodies (MoAb) are used for the direct and fast quantification of the absolute number of cells of various lymphocyte subsets in blood. Blood samples were incubated with microspheres coated with a subset specific MoAb. Using a magnet the microsphere-rosetted cells were isolated and washed. Following lysis of the cell walls to detach the microspheres, the cell nuclei were stained with acridine orange and counted in a haemocytometer using an immunofluorescence microscope. With MoAb specific for CD2, CD4, CD8 and CD19, reproducible absolute counts of the corresponding lymphocyte subsets were obtained which correlated closely with those obtained by an indirect quantification method.