Use of Preserved Autologous Red Blood Cells to Absorb Warm Autoantibodies from the Serum of Patients Receiving Blood Transfusion Therapy

This paper describes two practical methods for the preservation of pretransfusion patient red blood cells for antigen typing and autoabsorption during a course of transfusion therapy. Blood samples from patients who had serum warm autoantibodies and a positive direct antiglobulin test were collected, the serum frozen, and the red cell aliquots separately preserved by PVP-methanol or formaldehyde fixation. After storage and recovery, the IgG antibodies were dissociated and the cells used for absorption of the warm autoantibodies. The preserved red cells removed the warm autoantibodies as effectively as fresh red blood cells from the same patient. Preservation of autologous red cells prior to the onset of transfusion therapy provides an extension of the autoabsorption procedure and a simple alternative to differential absorption.     

Specificity of indium-111 granulocyte scanning and fecal excretion measurement in inflammatory bowel disease—an autoradiographic study

The validity of¹¹¹In granulocyte scanning and fecal excretion measurement, as a reflection of loss of cells into the gastrointestinal tract, was studied using an autoradiographic technique in 11 patients in whom¹¹¹In granulocyte scan and colonoscopy were carried out simultaneously.¹¹¹In granulocytes were injected 1.5–4 hr prior to colonoscopy, and intraluminal fluid, mucosal brushings, and colonic biopsies were collected during the colonoscopy. In two patients with no histological evidence of inflammatory bowel disease, and four patients with clinically and histologically inactive inflammatory bowel disease, no¹¹¹Indium was detected in fluid, brushing, or biopsies. In five patients with active disease, 85% of the¹¹¹In activity in colonic fluid was precipitated by low-speed centrifugation. Autoradiography confirmed that the label remained attached to whole granulocytes in colonic fluid and mucosal brushings. Studies on biopsies, at intervals up to 4 1/2 hr following labeled granulocyte injection, demonstrated labeled polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) on the inflamed epithelial surface, with occasional cells in crypt abscesses by 110 min. We conclude that the techniques of¹¹¹In granulocyte scanning and fecal counting in patients with IBD are specifically measuring cell loss: labeled PMNs are capable of migrating through the gastrointestinal mucosa, in active disease, within 2 hr of administration.