Buffy Coat

Buffy coat - or leukocyte concentrate

Leukocytes belong to the immune system and protect the body against infections and foreign substances. Leukocyte concentrates are available directly from the blood donation. For smaller volumes, it is possible to separate leukocytes or PBMC (peripheral blood mononuclear cells) via density centrifugation. Buffy Coats from a blood donation are interesting for direct cell isolation with pluriBead.

Buffy Coat from blood donation

A "Buffy Coat", also known as leukocyte concentrate, is a byproduct in the manufacturing of red blood cell and platelet concentrate from a whole blood donation. The compatibility of the donated blood samples are increased due to the removal of leukocytes that are known to belong to the human immune system, increases the compatibility and the shelf life of blood products. Risks and side effects, such as fever or formation of antibodies that arise during the administration of transfusions, can be minimized by the elimination of the white blood cells. A blood bag, which is intended for medical use must not contain more than one million leukocytes. Buffy Coat is the resulting waste-product, which contains 10-20 times concentrated leukocytes.

Facts about Buffy Coat

• Ideal for the isolation of cells
• Byproduct in the processing of blood.
• Leukocyte reduction helps to prevent complications of blood transfusion.
• The preparation is carried out physically without the use of polymer solutions.
• Leukocytes are 10 to 20 fold more concentrated than in whole blood.

How to gain buffy coat from a whole blood unit?

Two ways are suitable for the preparation of buffy coat. On the one hand the whole blood donation is centrifuged to separate the whole blood in red cells, plasma and buffy coat. The second possibility is to filter the blood and hold back the leukocytes.

Preparing a Buffy Coat fraction out of fresh whole blood in your lab

An additional possibility is to produce the buffy coat by yourself. Therefore just follow the short protocol:

1. Mix one part whole blood with one part washing buffer
2. Centrifuge the diluted whole blood 10 Minutes at 200 x g with the brake off
3. Remove the leukocyte - interphase (buffy coat)

Further Applications

Buffy Coat can be used for specific cell separation with pluriBead

1. High cell numbers within a very short time
2. No sample preparation
3. Ideal for the separation of rare cell types
4. The easy recovery of the sample material after isolation allows subsequent isolation of additional target cells