Processing of Umbilical Cord Blood | What happens in lab

Once the umbilical cord blood get collected immediately after the delivery , it then reached the lab where the processing of the blood gets starts for extracting out the desired stem cells which are of use.

Since the blood is very crucial and if not processed in time may turns into clot and is of no use afterwards, due to which the it is very essential to proceed with the processing of blood as soon as possible. 

Generally blood consist of many different types of cells namely Red Blood Cells (RBC's), White Blood Cell(WBC's), Platelets, Hematopoetic Stem Cells (HSC's) and plasma and the main motive behind cord blood processing is the extraction of Hematopoetic Stem Cells (HSC's) only and discarding the remains.

Process of Umbilical Cord Blood processing

Initially the sample get inspected and reviewed.Then technicians will proceed with processing.

Please find below the flow chart and explanation for each method  of cord blood processing :

Fig 1: Methods Of Umbilical Cord Blood Processing

Manual methods of Umbilical Cord Blood Processing

1.Density Gradient solution - This process involves separation of different layers of blood components based  on the principle of gravity using the centrifuge. Once the blood gets separated in to the layer,one layer will be buffy coat which is of use as it contains stem cells and rest will be discarded.It is necessary to make sure that there will not be the presence of even a single red blood cells because having so will restrict the sample usage to the donor only and will produce toxic effects or rejection if used by a different recipient.

Fig 2 : How Density gradient will lead to separation of buffy coat.

2.Hydroxyethyl Starch Solution -It is a process of recovering stem cells by red blood cells depletion.This further involve manual separation of white blood cells by sedimentation with chemical hetastarch to ensure that cord blood units which are being extracted are on an average 99 % pure.

Automated methods of Umbilical cord Blood Proessing

1. AXP - It stands for AutoXpress Platform, which is functionally a closed and fully automatic system for the processing of cord blood and extracting the stem cells.It is an integral component of CBR's proprietary Cell Advantage system. CBR has the highest published average stem cells recovery rate of 99% which is considered best in the the industry.

*AXP and AutoXpress are registered trademarks of Cesca Therapeutics.

2. Prepacyte CB - This process involves red blood cell depletion upto 99% and leads to highest recovery of Colony forming units (CFU),which in a general sense are the stem cells which are used for the treatment of the patient.Discarding all the red blood cells from the blood is very essential which will results in less toxic effects post the treatment.

3. SEPAX  and SEPAX 2 - Both are the fully automated closed system system for the efficient and consistent processing of umbilical cord blood. Both the devices belongs to Biosafe SA .However SEPAX 2 is highly advanced as compared to SEPAX.

Check the difference between sepax and sepax 2.

There are many companies which deals with the cord blood processing and different technique is being used by each of them for the processing and recovery of stem cells however choosing the right technique and using it in a right way is all what is important for getting the stem cells which will be useful for the mankind.

Procedure of umbilical cord blood banking

Cord blood is collected right once birth. the gathering method is painless and safe for you and your baby. In fact, it is so fast and painless that oldsters – held in holding and bonding with their new baby – are usually unaware it's even happened.

Here's however it's done:

1.Clamping and cutting the cord

After you've got delivered your baby, whether or not vaginally or by cesarian, the wire is clamped then cut within the usual manner – either by your partner or your medical supplier.

You can delay cord clamping, as long because the delay is transient – no quite a moment or two. (If cord clamping is delayed too long, the blood within the cord can clot. And once the blood clots, it's of no profit to anyone – it does not attend your baby and cannot be collected for storage.)

2. Extracting the cord blood

Your medical supplier then inserts a needle into the vena on the a part of the cord that is still hooked up to the placenta. The needle does not go anyplace close to your baby.

The blood drains into a group bag. Typically, one to five ounces square measure collected. the whole method takes but ten minutes.

3. Off to the bank!
The blood is shipped to a cord bank, wherever it's tested, processed, and cryopreserved (preserved by controlled freezing) for long-run storage if deemed acceptable per quality standards.

Some family cord blood banks currently supply to gather a section of the umbilical cord additionally to the cord blood. Umbilical cord tissue contains stem cells that square measure completely different from cord blood stem cells, and researchers square measure finding out their doable use.

4.Transplantation

Cryogenic blood-forming stem cells will be thawed and employed in either autologous procedures (when somebody receives his or her own fetal membrane blood in an exceedingly transplant) or allogeneic procedures (when someone receives fetal membrane blood given from some other person — a relative, shut relative, or anonymous donor).

In most cases, these transplants are done solely with youngsters or young adults. that is as a result of the quantity of a cord-blood donation typically is not enough for Associate in Nursing adult's transplant. The larger someone is, the additional blood-forming stem cells he or she desires for a productive transplant.

Umbilical Cord Blood Banking

When you are expecting, you have got many choices to form. thus if you have detected regarding banking umbilical cord blood, you may be curious what it involves — and whether or not it's right for you and your family.

About Cord-Blood Banking

Cord-blood banking essentially means that aggregation and storing the blood from at intervals the funiculus (the a part of the placenta that delivers nutrients to a fetus) when a baby is born.

Cord blood contains blood-forming stem cells, that square measure doubtless helpful for treating diseases that need somatic cell transplants, like sure forms of leucaemia or malignant neoplastic disease, anemia, severe red blood cell illness, and severe combined immunological disorder.

There square measure 2 sorts of banks that store twine blood:

Public banks collect given twine blood for analysis or to be used by anyone WHO might have it. there's sometimes no charge related to this service. when birth, blood is collected, anonymously marked, and sent to a public bank to doubtless save the lifetime of another kid someday.

If you decide on this feature and your kid or a friend later develops a illness that needs a somatic cell transplant for treatment, you will not be ready to get the donation you created to the bank.
Private banks store twine blood for private use by the family. there's a fee related to this service. those who have a case history of illness that may be treated with somatic cell transplants generally take into account this feature.

Less normally, individuals value more highly to in private bank their newborn's twine blood on the off likelihood that sometime their kid or a sick friend may well be treated with it. This observe is not suggested, however, since the prices related to it square measure high and also the possibilities of a friend ever improvisation the twine blood square measure slim.

Like community or hospital blood banks, cord-blood banks square measure regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), that has developed standards regulation future cord-blood assortment and storage.