Optimizing the recovery of peripheral blood mononuclear cells trapped in leukoreduction filters - A comparison study

The isolation of captured peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs) from leukoreduction filters (LRFs) can be of great importance in terms of bringing the lost cells back into use.

The aim of this study was to evaluate various methods based on their potential to recover the peripheral blood cells from LRFs with a focus on mononuclear cells (MNCs).

For cell isolation from LRFs, three distinct methods (back-flushing, direct and vacuum pump) were compared through the calculation of the yield of isolated MNCs. The viability of extracted cells was determined by the flow cytometry technique. Moreover, the recovered MNCs were characterized regarding the presence of blood stem cell purification. The cell culture, microscopic observation, and immunophenotyping were employed to characterize the blood stem cells (hematopoietic, mesenchymal and progenitor endothelial stem cells).

The yield of isolation obtained in the back-flushing, direct and vacuum pump methods were 17.7 ± 1.28, 17.3 ± 0.96 and 21.2 ± 0.90 percent, respectively. Although the highest potential for total blood cell recovery belonged to the vacuum pump method, the lowest cell viability (85.73 ± 4.84%) was observed in this method. However, the isolation process of the back-flushing and direct methods had less effect on cell viability. The characterization of the isolated MNCs displayed that the dominant positive phenotype was for CD34/CD45, indicating hematopoietic stem cells. In addition, the endothelial stem/progenitor cells were significantly detected as CD31/CD133 positive cells.

According to our results and considering the safety and efficiency potential of each of the applied methods, the back-flushing in comparison with the other methods can be considered a suitable procedure for MNC isolation from LRFs.