Histologic and immunohistochemical studies on the preparation of white cell-poor red cell concentrates: the filtration process using three different polyester filters.

Three third-generation white cell (WBC)-depletion filters based on polyester layers with decreasing pore size were investigated. In the coarse layers, unaggregated granulocytes, monocytes, and platelets and aggregates of these cells were captured in close contact with the fibers. This indicates that the depletion of granulocytes, monocytes, and platelets in the coarse layers of the filters is due in part to activation and adhesion with the formation of cell clusters on the fibers. In Filter I and Filter II platelets were not found in the fine layers, whereas in Filter III, 70 percent of the platelets were detected as unaggregated platelets on the fibers of the fine layers. More than 95 percent of the lymphocytes captured in the three filters occurred as single cells in the fine layers, and over 60 percent of these could be recovered. This suggests that the depletion of lymphocytes depended on trapping of the cells in the fiber network. All three filters captured HLA-DR-positive lymphocytes in the top layers, a finding that supports earlier reports that the transfusion of filtered red cell concentrates reduces HLA alloimmunization. More lymphocytes and granulocytes were found in the last layer of Filters II and III than of Filter I. Therefore, the risk of white cell leakage is probably lowest for Filter I. Red cells were found as red cell aggregates in the fine layers of Filters I and II, whereas almost no red cells were detected in Filter III. It was shown that the three filters studied were similar in their removal of WBCs, but differed in their mechanisms of removal.