Abstract
As a cord blood (CB) bank, we routinely reduce the volume of each CB unit by manually sedimenting red blood cells (RBCs) using hydroxyethyl starch (HES). This is a demanding technique, and an automated volume reduction of CB is expected to standardize the procedure while complying with the requirements of the quality control system. We compared the manual HES sedimentation method with the AutoXpressTM system (AXP, Thermogenesis, New York) without HES. Preparing identical units, we assessed the total nucleated cell (TNC) count, mononuclear cell (MNC) count, CD34+cells, and colony-forming unit (CFU) content from both methods in 24 pairs. Recoveries of TNC, MNC, CD34+and total CFU for the AXP group were 88.4%, 97.3%, 93.4% and 101.2%, respectively, which were significantly better than the manual HES sedimentation group. The time required for CB processing with the AXP system was significantly shorter than that for our HES sedimentation method. The main advantage of the manual HES method was its higher RBC depletion. The recovery of cells after a freeze and thaw was comparable between the manual and AXP groups for TNC, CD34+and CFU. Use of the AXP system to enable CB banks to automate and simplify the processing procedure is feasible.
