Effect of gamma irradiation on blood from glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase deficient blood donors

Recently, the irradiation of cellular blood components has received increased attention. Normal red blood cells (RBC) when subjected to gamma irradiation show increase in haemolysis and increased storage lesions. Glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficient blood is lacking in anti-oxidant properties which protect the RBC membrane and therefore when subjected to gamma irradiation, it may lead to increased haemolysis. In this study, 500 healthy non-remunerated blood donors were screened for G6PD deficiency. About 350 ml of whole blood was collected from 10 G6PD deficient donors (cases) and 10 units were collected from donors who were not deficient for G6PD (controls). All units were subjected to gamma irradiation of 25 Gy by a self contained gamma cell irradiator (Nordion Canada) on day 0 and then stored at 4 degrees C. Sampling was done from these cases and controls on day 0, 7, 14 and 21. Estimation of free plasma hemoglobin (Hb), free plasma potassium (K) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was performed. It was found that there were no significant changes between the cases and controls in any of the parameters assessed, although the values for all the parameters were higher in case group at the end of storage period, these differences were not statistically significant.