J Clin Pathol Qual Control.  1997 Jun;19(1):233-236.

A Study on the Change of the RBC Surface Antigen Titer in the Frozen-thawed RBC by the High Glycerol Cryopreservation Method

• Lim CS
• Kim YK
• Lee KN

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The cryopreservation of the red blood cells (RBCs) has been proved to have many advantages in the transfusion practice. We evaluated the change of titers of the RBC surface antigen before freezing and after thawing RBCs.
METHODS
The 10mL of blood were collected from 10 volunteers and we made frozen packed RBCs by the high glycerol method and stored it in -80degrees C freezer for 1 month. Various RBC surface antigen density (ABO, Rho C, c, D, E, e, Lewis(a), Kell, Duffy, MNSs, Lutheran, P, Kidd) were measured by titration using anti-sera (Dade, Baxter, USA), and compared the changes before freezing and after thawing.
RESULTS
The mean RBC recovery rate of 10 samples was 73.95 (SD=9.85). There were no changes of expression of the RBC surface antigens in ABO, Rh(CcDE), Lewis(a), MNSs, Jk(a), Jk(b), However Rh(e) (n=2), Lewis(b) (n=3), k antigens (n=4) were decreased after thawing.
CONCLUSIONS
The densities of most RBC antigens were not changed after thawing in the high glycerol cryopreservation method but some decreased unremarkably. It appear to be useful to apply frozen-thawed RBCs for quality control program of transfusion medicine or longterm preservation of the rare RBC antigen.

MeSH Terms

Antigens, Surface*
Cryopreservation*
Erythrocytes
Freezing
Glycerol*
Protestantism
Quality Control
Transfusion Medicine
Volunteers
Antigens, Surface
Glycerol