Collection, Separation, Enumeration and Cryopreservation of Umbilical Cord Blood Haematopoietic Stem Cells - An Experimental Study.

Cord blood as a source of haematopoietic stem cells (HSC) has several advantages as it is easily available, involves non-invasive collection procedure and is better tolerated across the HLA barrier. Since the first cord blood transplant in 1988, over 1000 cord blood HSC transplants have been done world wide. The present study was carried out for collection, separation, enumeration and cryopreservation of cord blood HSC. 30 samples of cord blood HSC were collected after delivery of infant prior to expulsion of placenta. The average cord blood volume collected was 101.33ml. Mononuclear cell count ranged from 7.36 to 25.6 × 10(7) ml. Viability count of mononuclear cells was 98.4%. After 6 months of cryopreservation, the viability count on revival was over 82.1%.