Intermittent-flow versus continuous-flow mononuclear cell apheresis

Area of Science:

• Hematology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Cellular Biology

Background:

• Blood cell separators are crucial for isolating specific cell populations.
• Intermittent-flow and continuous-flow systems represent different technological approaches to apheresis.
• Optimizing mononuclear cell (MNC) collection is vital for various clinical and research applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the efficacy of an intermittent-flow (Haemonetics V-50) and a continuous-flow (Fenwall CS-3000) blood cell separator for mononuclear cell (MNC) collection.
• To evaluate differences in cell yield and purity between the two apheresis systems.

Main Methods:

• A comparative study involving 17 aphereses using the V-50 and 24 aphereses using the CS-3000 on healthy donors.
• Analysis of mononuclear cell (MNC) yield and colony-forming unit-granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM) yield.
• Assessment of contamination by red blood cells, polymorphonuclear cells, and platelets.

Main Results:

• No significant difference was observed in MNC yield (V-50: median 6.4 x 10^9; CS-3000: median 6.3 x 10^9).
• No significant difference was found in CFU-GM yield (V-50: median 41 x 10^3; CS-3000: median 43 x 10^3).
• The CS-3000 system demonstrated substantially lower red blood cell and polymorphonuclear cell contamination compared to the V-50 system, with slightly lower platelet contamination.

Conclusions:

• The continuous-flow apheresis system (CS-3000) is more suitable for mononuclear cell (MNC) harvesting than the intermittent-flow system (V-50).
• The CS-3000 offers a purer MNC product, which is advantageous for downstream applications.
• System design impacts the efficiency and purity of cell separation in apheresis procedures.