Does the time between collecting and processing umbilical cord blood samples affect the quality of the sample?

Abstract

Objective: To assess the association between the time fromumbilical cord blood collection until processing and the quality of the sample. Methods: Umbilical cord blood samples collected duringthe third stage of labor were placed in temperature-controlled boxesfor the transport of biological material and sent to an umbilical cordblood bank, where the number of nucleated cells, viable cells andCD34+ cells were counted, and samples were additionally testedfor contamination at the following time intervals: up to 24 hours,up to 48 hours and up to 72 hours following sampling. Data wereanalyzed using the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) andcompared using McNemar’s χ2 test. Significance was defined at p< 0.05. Results: Means and medians of the number of nucleatedcells, viable cells and CD34+ cells decreased significantly (p <0.0001) as a function of the increased time between sampling andanalysis, the difference between 24 and 48 hours being less than thedifference between 24 and 72 hours. A linear correlation was foundbetween the mean number of viable cells and CD34+ cells at thethree moments of analysis. Contamination testing was negative inall samples. Conclusion: The increase in time interval from samplinguntil analysis negatively affected the number of nucleated cells,viable cells and CD34+ cells but was not associated with specimencontamination. A linear correlation was found between decrease inthe number of viable cells and CD34+ cells.

Keywords

• Adult stem cells
• Fetal stem cells
• Quality control
• Umbilical cord
• Fetal blood/transplantation