Haemolytic properties of pluronic surfactants and effects of purification

The effects of incubating blood from mice, rats, rabbits or hamsters with either a commercial grade or a silica-purified fraction of Pluronic F-68 or Pluronic F-38 have been studied. Incubation of blood with up to 4.0% (w/v) of commercial or purified Pluronic F-68 produced no detectable haemolysis (< 0.1%). Haemolysis did occur with concentrations of commercial Pluronic F-68 above 4.0% (w/v). This was maximal with rat blood incubated with 10.0% (w/v) Pluronic F-68, where the mean haemolysis was 4.7 +/- 1.5%; the mean haemolysis in rat blood was reduced to 0.5 +/- 0.3% (P < 0.05) following incubation with the purified Pluronic F-68 fraction. Neither commercial grade or purified Pluronic F-38 produced any significant haemolysis when incubated with rat or hamster blood. Incubation of rabbit blood with 10.0% (w/v) commercial Pluronic F-38 produced only 0.5% haemolysis.