ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: A successful cord blood (CB) bank requires long-term storage of a large number of CB units with good quality. To provide an optimal storage condition and to solve issues of space, many techniques have been developed to remove the plasma and RBC with maintenance of the quality and cell dose. We compared the results of the use of two different automated systems with the hydroxyethyl starch (HES) sedimentation method used in routine manual processing. METHODS: A total of 38 donated CB units with informed consent (18 June 2007~16 July 2007) were randomly selected and enrolled. We performed volume reduction of 20 units with the Sepax(R) S-100 (Sepax), 18 units with the AXP(TM) AutoXpress Platform (AXP), and compared the levels of nucleated cell recoveries, viability, and CD34+ cell/total nucleated cells (TNC) with the levels of 20 units processed using the HES method in the same period. The correlations of the initial TNC with cell recoveries were also evaluated. RESULTS: The mean values of the TNC recoveries, viabilities, and CD34+ cell/TNC among the three methods were similar (P=0.75; P=0.13; P=0.75). However, the MNC recovery was significantly higher with the use of the AXP system (89.2%, P<0.001) than the other methods. The Sepax system also showed a reduced SD for TNC recovery. Moreover, cell recovery rates were independent of the initial TNC counts. CONCLUSION: The Sepax and AXP automated cord blood process systems allow similar cell recoveries and viability as compared with the HES method. With the results of this study, a cord blood bank may be able to use an automated system considering the facility, personnel and the workload.