UMBILICAL-CORD BLOOD PROCESSING - VOLUME REDUCTION AND RECOVERY OF CD34(+) CELLS

One of the main problems for the establishment of umbilical cord blood (UCB) banks is the storage space needed for the frozen samples. The a im of this study was to find a method of reducing the volume of UCB un its without major losses of the haematopoietic progenitor - CD34(+) ce lls. The UCB was collected into a triple blood bag system, in which th e anti-coagulant had been previously adjusted, The blood bag was first centrifuged for red cell depletion followed by a second centrifugatio n for plasma reduction. At this point, the main bag containing the whi te blood cell (WBC) rich fraction 'buffy coat' (BC) and the 'waste bag ' were sealed and detached, Haematologic cell counts and CD34(+) cell quantification were done in whole blood and in the isolated fractions. The average volume of the 19 UCB samples processed was 103 ml. Separa tion by centrifugation led to a mean volume reduction of 56% with red cell depletion of 59%. The white blood cell recovery was of 72% with a significant CD34(+) cell recovery of 87%. This seems a promising meth od for cord blood volume reduction and enrichment of CD34(+) cells.