RE: Stability of blood, thymus, spleen and lymph nodes

Hi Jill,
 
We (Seattle) have a collaboration with U of Minn/Mayo, and ship
human/mouse blood and organ cells. Our protocol is set for processing
heparin whole blood or organ cells WITHIN 24 hr. Heparin seems to make
cell membranes more stable, avoiding random internalization of surface
antigens than do EDTA (no comparative exp done though). For organ cells,
we use RPMI1460 with HEPES (10 - 15 mM) supplemented with FBS (10%),
L-glu (2 mM), and Na pyruvate (1 mM) with phenol red.
 
Important: Overnight packages must be thermo protected for cold in
winter and hot in summer. It should be maintained in ambient (hopefully
room) temp. Someday I will pack a thermo limit meter to find the max and
min temp during the shippment with a high altitude cargo plane. Once
recieved and processed for cell culture or NK cell activity assay, all
starining is done in tubes in ice.
 
Good luck,
Masa
 
 
 
Masa Sasagawa, ND
Naturopathic Physician - Washington
Affiliate Assistant Professor - University of Washington
  School of Nursing, Dept of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems
Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Bastyr University
14500 Juanita Dr NE, #472
Kenmore, WA 98028
Phone: 425-602-3178
Fax: 425-602-3079
masas@bastyr.edu
 

________________________________

From: jill.omerza@novartis.com [mailto:jill.omerza@novartis.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 9:49 AM
To: cyto-inbox
Subject: Stability of blood, thymus, spleen and lymph nodes



Does anyone have any stability data on mouse blood and tissiues for
immunophenotyping?  Is it possible to ship whole blood (EDTA), whole
pieces of spleen, thymus and lymph nodes for overnight delivery and not
have a viability issue?  If so, what type of medium is best to hold the
tissues in and what temp (ambient, cold packs...etc)?  When received, I
plan on doing the processoing and staining. 

Thanks, 

Jill Omerza, MS, MT(ASCP)
Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation
One Health Plaza
East Hanover, New Jersey 07036
862 778-5528