Journal
PLOS ONE
Volume 11, Issue 10, Pages -Publisher
PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163582
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Funding
- National Institutes of Health [R01HL109559, R01HL124879, R01HL095476, 510RR025679]
- VA Merit Award [101 BX000704]
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of National Institutes of Health [T32HL007745]
- NSF-MRI grant [0923395]
- Div Of Biological Infrastructure
- Direct For Biological Sciences [0923395] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Background Red blood cell (RBC) transfusions are a common, life-saving therapy for many patients, but they have also been associated with poor clinical outcomes. We identified unusual, pleomorphic structures in human RBC transfusion units by negative-stain electron microscopy that appeared identical to those previously reported to be bacteria in healthy human blood samples. The presence of viable, replicating bacteria in stored blood could explain poor outcomes in transfusion recipients and have major implications for transfusion medicine. Here, we investigated the possibility that these structures were bacteria. Results Flow cytometry, miRNA analysis, protein analysis, and additional electron microscopy studies strongly indicated that the pleomorphic structures in the supernatant of stored RBCs were RBC-derived microparticles (RMPs). Bacterial 16S rDNA PCR amplified from these samples were sequenced and was found to be highly similar to species that are known to commonly contaminate laboratory reagents. Conclusions These studies suggest that pleomorphic structures identified in human blood are RMPs and not bacteria, and they provide an example in which laboratory contaminants may can mislead investigators.
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