Analysis of Plasma Products for Cellular Contaminants: Comparing Standard Preparation Methods

Area of Science:

• Blood banking and transfusion medicine
• Cellular biology and immunology
• Medical laboratory science

Background:

• Component plasma products may contain significant cellular contamination.
• Stored plasma is often presumed to be functionally acellular.
• This cellular contamination is largely unrecognized.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate cellular contamination in stored liquid plasma.
• To evaluate the efficacy of leukoreduction of whole blood in preventing plasma contamination.
• To identify a cost-effective method for improving plasma product quality.

Main Methods:

• Collected 25 units of standard-processed liquid plasma from 3 blood centers.
• Analyzed plasma samples for leukocyte and platelet contamination using flow cytometry.
• Prepared 6 additional units of liquid plasma from leukoreduced whole blood for comparison.

Main Results:

• Standard-processed plasma contained a mean of 12.8 million leukocytes and 4.6 billion platelets per unit.
• Leukoreduction of whole blood before plasma processing eliminated nearly all contaminating leukocytes (0.05 million) and platelets (0.00 billion).
• Significant reduction in cellular contamination was observed in plasma derived from leukoreduced whole blood.

Conclusions:

• Liquid plasma from regional blood banks shows significant, previously unrecognized cellular contamination.
• Implementing leukoreduction of whole blood effectively eliminates leukocyte and platelet contaminants from plasma.
• This study presents a straightforward, cost-effective method to improve stored plasma quality.