New Assay May Help Monitor RBC Aging

A research team from the University of Colorado – including AABB Foundation Hall of Fame member Angelo D’Alessandro, PhD, in conjunction with Xiaoyun Ding, PhD, at CU Boulder – has developed a new assay that may one day help blood centers monitor the quality of stored red blood cells.

The test, called the surface acoustic wave hemolysis assay (SAW-HA), uses controlled vibration to induce hemolysis in red blood cells (RBC), revealing information about cell membrane integrity and other indicators associated with RBC aging.

According to the researchers, the test is constructed by depositing a thin layer of metallic electrodes onto a wafer made of lithium niobate, followed by the addition of a small drop of blood. When an electric current is applied, the lithium niobate vibrates, generating surface acoustic waves that agitate the blood sample.

When testing the device on donated blood samples, the research team observed donor-dependent differences in susceptibility to surface acoustic wave–induced hemolysis, which correlated with altered metabolic profiles previously associated with RBC storage lesion, in bag or posttransfusion hemolysis.

While additional research is necessary before SAW-HA could be used as a reliable indicator of RBC quality, the researchers believe the test may one day help screen human patients for a variety of blood disorders and could help allocate higher-quality RBCs to vulnerable patient populations.

AABB encourages members to read the full study in Lab on a Chip.