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Updated: Dec 10, 2025
Treatment of Platelet Products with Riboflavin and UV Light: Effectiveness Against High Titer Bacterial Contamination
Published on: August 24, 2015
Effects of riboflavin and ultraviolet light treatment on pathogen reduction and platelets
Yundi Yin1,2, Ling Li1,2, Li Gong1,2
1Clinical Transfusion Research Center, Institute of Blood Transfusion, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Chengdu, China.
Background:
Pathogen reduction technology has become an accepted method for limiting transfusion-transmitted infections (TTIs). Riboflavin and ultraviolet light (RUV) treatment of platelets (PLTs) is an optional means of pathogen inactivation owing to its safety, effectiveness, and ease of use. However, the literature on effects of ultraviolet (UV) light spectra and doses on pathogen reduction is still contradictory.
Methods:
We tested the effectiveness of killing Escherichia coli following RUV exposure with one broad-spectrum and two narrow-spectrum light sources centered at 311 and 365 nm and at successively higher doses by limited dilution survival assays. After comparing the effectiveness of E coli and phage inactivation (n = 6) and the changes in PLT count and metabolism caused by RUV treatment with optimized UV light at increasing doses, we confirmed our results by using four model virus systems that represent common TTIs, as well as PLT function and activation assays at an optimized light dose.
Results:
The narrow-spectrum UV, centered at 311 nm, optimally reduced the E coli titer with a light dose ≥8.11 J/mL, resulting in the same trend of E coli and phage reduction at different light doses. At 8.11 J/mL, 311-nm narrow-spectrum UV had a good inactivation effect on E coli and phages, eliminating many viruses, and resulted in acceptable PLT quality after RUV treatment and during storage for 4 days.
Conclusions:
Our data suggest restricting exposure to narrow-spectrum UV centered at 311 nm can increase E coli elimination and potentially optimize virus titer reduction without significantly compromising PLT quality.
