Comparison of the methods evaluating post thawing viability of peripheral blood stem cell graft

Reliable and pratique methods are essential for rapid and accurate determination of post thawing viability of peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) graft before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. In this study, Trypan Blue (TP) Eosin Y (EO), and Acridine-orange-ethidium bromide (AO/EB), which are of the methods commonly used for the assessment of viability in clinic practice, were compared with the flow cytometry-7AAD (7AAD) method, which is a more sensitive method. The aim of this study is to examine which method evaluates postthawing viability in a more compatible manner with 7AAD.

Postthawing viability rates were examined simultaneously by means of four different methods before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in a total of 20 PBSC graft. The results obtained from the AO/EB, TP, EO methods were evaluated with the flow cytometry-7AAD in terms of concordance.

The AO / EB was determined to be the method having the best concordance with the flow cytometry-7AAD method. Although, at a lower level compared to the AO/EB method, the EO method had a statistically significant concordance with the flow cytometry-7AAD method. No statistically significant concordance was detected between the TP method and 7AAD method in terms of viability results.

The AO/EB method was identified to be the method having the best compatibility with the flow cytometry -7AAD method in showing the viability of the cryopreserved PBSC graft. In the viability assessment of PBCS graft using light microscopy, the EO may be preferred since is more sensitive compared to the TP method.