Hey!
This is Hakim (0703555C) doing my 4th and final blog posting.
Culturing of cord blood is essential for those who want to store their baby's cord blood.
Cord blood is the blood that is in the umbilical cord and placenta after the birth of the baby. The blood can be used to treat haematopoietic diseases such as leukemia, as the cord blood contains stem cells. The cord blood can be stored for up to 20 years for transfusion for future use to the baby or their family members. Therefore, it is essential that the cord blood is sterile and is free of any microorganisms. In addition, storage and maintenance of cord blood is very expensive.
The cord blood that is received for culturing is just a small amount of blood (2 eppendorf tubes).
The cord blood is cultured on 4 different agar plates:
1. TSA (Trypticase Soy Agar) with sheep blood stored in aerobic conditions - an enriched media to support a wide variety of microorganisms
2. TSA (Trypticase Soy Agar) with sheep blood stored in anaerobic conditions - an enriched media to support a wide variety of anaerobic microorganisms
3. MacConkey Agar- selective media for gram negative bacteria and also to differentiate between lactose fermenters and non-lactose fermenters
4. Sabouraud Dextrose Agar - selective media for yeast cells
The barcode number of the baby must be written on the underside of the media plate. A sterile swab is inserted into the cord blood and is innoculated onto the media plates. Then, a streaker is used to streak the plate.
The anaerobic TSA is inserted into an anaerobic jar. An anaerobic pack which absorbs oxygen and releases carbon dioxide is added into the jar before incubation. In addition, a control plate of a Mueller Hinton Agar innoculated with pseudomonas aeruginosa is put inside the anaerobic jar. The reason for this is because pseudomonas aeruginosa is a strict aerobe and it is the only organism that grows green colonies on Mueller Hinton. Therefore, if there isn't any green colonies on the agar after incubation, we can conclude that the conditions is an anaerobic condition.
After 24 hours of incubation, the agar plates are checked for any signs of bacterial growth. If there is no bacterial growth, the plates are incubated further for another 24 hours. If there is presence of bacterial growth, we must report the findings so that the cord blood will not be stored.
Please feel free to ask any questions!
Thanks!
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8 comments:
Hey Hakim! super cool post! =) just curious, what temperature is used for the storage of cord blood?
THANKS! 3 more weeks to go!
Joanna Yeo!
0702054H
Hey Hakim,
Is it a must to stored cord blood after every birth since it is important?
Rachel :)
Hey Joanna!
The cord blood is cryopreserved at -196 degrees celcius. But it's stored in the cord blood bank and not in my lab.
Hey Rachel!
I heard from somebody that storage of cord blood costs around $1000, with an additional yearly fee for storage. So it's pretty expensive. It's all up to the parents if they want to store the cord blood or not.
I hope I've answered your questions!
Thanks!
Hakim :)
0703555C
Hey Hakim,
Will there be any quality control be put in place for this test?
Cheers,
Tiong han
0703762E
Hey Tiong Han!
Well, the only quality control for this process is to make sure that the TSA agar in the anaerobic jar is in an anaerobic environment, which is explained in the post.
I don't think there are any other quality control procedures done haha.
I hope I've answered your question!
Thanks!
Hakim :)
0703555C
hi hakim,
can the cord blood be stored for more than 20 years?
jiahui
tg01 group 2 0703605f
Hi, has there ever been contamination from other sources happen before? I know that most probably it will be sterile, but has it happened?
Muna
0703791D
Hello Hakim!
I would like to know what are the chances of cord blood to be able to cure leukemia? Is it only for those that suffer from leukemia at a later stage? Because i heard that cord blood cannot treat those people that suffer from childhood leukemia because of similar genetic defects found in the cord blood.
I would also like to know if the cord blood was tested for contamination, is there no way to rectify the contamination?
THANKS!!!
Renee
TG02
0703634F
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