The following is a summary of “Development and application of a novel reagent for fixing red blood cells with glutaraldehyde and paraformaldehyde,” published in the April 2023 issue of Hematology by Li, et al.
For a study, researchers sought to develop a long-term red blood cell reagent by evaluating the type and concentration of the red blood cell reagent treatment solution and assessing the effectiveness of the developed reagent over 6 months.
The study evaluated the red blood cell antigen concentration 24 hours after treatment with different concentrations of glutaraldehyde (GA) and paraformaldehyde (PFA) solutions. The qualified glutaraldehyde/paraformaldehyde reagent was then stored for six months, and five red blood cell indices were measured every month. The accuracy of the developed reagent was assessed by comparing the detection indices of treated red blood cell reagents and untreated red blood cell reagents using the test tube method and microcolumn gel card.
The results showed that red blood cells treated with a solution containing 0.005% GA and 0.05% PFA were more suitable for preservation than other concentrations. The preservation time of the developed reagent was six months. Furthermore, the accuracy of the treated blood cells containing 0.005% glutaraldehyde +0.05% paraformaldehyde was 100% as determined by the test tube method (n=24) and microcolumn gel card (n=35).
The study successfully developed a long-term red blood cell reagent by treating red blood cells with a glutaraldehyde/paraformaldehyde fixed solution. The developed reagent was found to be effective in prolonging the storage time of red blood cells by two to three times that of currently available red blood cell reagents. The finding has significant implications for hospitals with a small number of specimens that are unable to utilize the reagents within their validity period, resulting in increased purchase prices.
Source: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16078454.2023.2204612