How free of residual cells and cell antigens is human blood plasma? A comparison of different production methods of human blood plasma and the risk of the products for patients.

The aim of this investigation was to compare 11 different production procedures for human blood plasma, using preparative apheresis and whole blood. We intended to determine the plasma quality in regard to the number of residual cells or cell fragments. Cells were analysed using the Cell-Dyn 4000 blood cell counter and cell fragments were detected by an immunoassay. Antigenic structure could be detected in clearly different quantities corresponding to the separation technique used. Methods which separated blood components only with centrifugation produced plasma with more detectable cellular material than plasma produced with additional membrane filtration. No remaining antigenic fragments were detected when an additional plasma filter was used.