Development and evaluation of a prototype non-woven fabric filter for purification of malaria-infected blood

Abstract

BackgroundMany malaria-related studies depend on infected red blood cells (iRBCs) as fundamental material; however, infected blood samples from human or animal models include leukocytes (white blood cells or WBCs), especially difficult to separate from iRBCs in cases involving Plasmodium vivax. These host WBCs are a source of contamination in biology, immunology and molecular biology studies, requiring their removal. Non-woven fabric (NWF) has the ability to adsorb leukocytes and is already used as filtration material to deplete WBCs for blood transfusion and surgery. The present study describes the development and evaluation of a prototype NWF filter designed for purifying iRBCs from malaria-infected blood.MethodsBlood samples of P. vivax patients were processed separately by NWF filter and CF11 column methods. WBCs and RBCs were counted, parasite density, morphology and developing stage was checked by microscopy, and compared before and after treatment. The viability of filtrated P. vivax parasites was examined by in vitro short-term cultivation.ResultsA total of 15 P. vivax-infected blood samples were treated by both NWF filter and CF11 methods. The WBC removal rate of the NWF filter method was 99.03%, significantly higher than the CF11 methods (98.41%, P < 0.01). The RBC recovery rate of the NWF filter method was 95.48%, also significantly higher than the CF11 method (87.05%, P < 0.01). Fourteen in vitro short-term culture results showed that after filter treatment, P. vivax parasite could develop as normal as CF11 method, and no obvious density, developing stage difference were fund between two methods.ConclusionsNWF filter filtration removed most leukocytes from malaria-infected blood, and the recovery rate of RBCs was higher than with CF11 column method. Filtrated P. vivax parasites were morphologically normal, viable, and suitable for short-term in vitro culture. NWF filter filtration is simple, fast and robust, and is ideal for purification of malaria-infected blood.

Ex Vivo Maturation Assay for Testing Antimalarial Sensitivity of Rodent Malaria Parasites

“…Mice with 2 to 5% parasitemia were anesthetized in an oxygen-rich induction chamber with 2% isoflurane, and blood was collected through retro-orbital puncture and placed into a tube containing 5 ml of PBS solution with heparin. White blood cells (WBCs) were removed from infected heparinized blood samples using an NFW filter (19). Briefly, the blood sample solution was transferred to a 10-ml syringe attached to the NFW filter.…”

Purifying stem cell‐derived red blood cells: a high‐throughput label‐free downstream processing strategy based on microfluidic spiral inertial separation and membrane filtration

“…Shah et al (2016) reported a positive evaluation of CB CD34+ derived mRBC as transfusion product (Shah et al, 2016), using their novel animal model to assess the potential of mRBCs to deliver oxygen to muscle tissues. To deplete undifferentiated nucleated cells before transfusion, they used a nonwoven fabric filter (Tao, Xia, Cao, & Gao, 2011). They carried out an extensive study on the impact of filtration on the quality of mRBC and they found that cells, despite a significant cell retention on the membrane (filtration removed 75% of cells), mRBC passed through the filter remained intact and there were no difference in levels of hemoglobin expression before and after filtration.…”

Evaluation of Stem Cell-Derived Red Blood Cells as a Transfusion Product Using a Novel Animal Model

“…Media were changed every 3–4 days. Where indicated, cells were filtered through a non-woven fabric filter [10] (Antoshin, Singapore) to reduce nucleated cells. Briefly, the filter was washed with PBS, and cells diluted to 5–10x10 7 /mL PBS were slowly passed through.…”