Freezing and deglycerolizing sickle-trait red blood cells.

Sickle-trait red blood cells respond to freezing and thawing like normal cells, but during deglycerolization by centrifugal methods, they pack and hemolyze. This appears to be the result of changes in surface characteristics with suspension in hyperosmotic saline and even modest increases in osmolality result in packing with centrifugation. Modifications to permit deglycerolization of sickle-trait cells have been designed for use with both the Haemonetics and the IBM cell washing systems. Sickle-trait cells do not agglomerate satisfactorily but we were unable to devise a modification of this deglycerolizing system that would accommodate sickle-trait cells.