FLOW CYTOMETRY FOR MEASURING RESIDUAL LEUKOCYTES IN BLOOD PLASMA
Background. Immunological and infectious safety of blood components is considered to be a key condition for high-quality transfusion therapy. The progress of blood filtration methods contributes to the development of methods for the validation of residual leukocyte control in blood products.The aim of the study was to compare the efficiency of flow cytometer with hematology analyzer for counting residual leukocytes in blood productsMethods. In this study, we compared the efficiency of two analytical instruments for counting residual leukocytes in 191 blood plasma samples: a flow cytometer (Navios Beckman Coulter) with a LeukoSure commercial reagent kit and a Sysmex XT4000i hematology analyzer.Results. All the samples under investigation met technical regulation requirements. Most of the samples were characterized by a significantly low amount of residual leukocytes, which fact presented a particular scientific interest. The use of a Navios Beckman Coulter flow cytometer and a commercial reagent kit allowed us to detect 15 or lower cells per μL in 83 % of the samples. The use of a Sysmex XT- 4000i automatic hematology analyzer for the calculation of residual white blood cells in this range proved to be limited due to the sensitivity of the device and the absence of certified reference materials with a low white blood cell count.Conclusion. Our results show that a Navios Beckman Coulter flow cytometer with a commercial reagent kit is suitable for measuring residual leukocytes in blood plasma. This instrument is most appropriate for samples with a minimum number of cells. A significant variability of the amount of residual white blood cells in blood plasma confirms the importance of inspecting the content of leukocytes in all blood components.