Abstract
The study aimed to investigate whether the preparation, storage, and use of autologous serum in insulin syringes is microbiologically safe. Blood samples (10 mL) were obtained from 10 volunteers. After centrifugation, the supernatant serum was removed and distributed in 5 sterile insulin syringes for each sample; syringes were numbered 0 to 4 and labelled with the subject's details. Syringes were immediately transported to the microbiology laboratory and stored in a refrigerator at +4°C. The "0" labelled syringes were separated from the others and 100 µl of serum from each syringe was immediately seeded on chocolate and Sabouraud agar plates, which were incubated aerobically at 37°C for 96 hours to detect any bacterial and/or fungal contamination. In the next 4 days, the same procedure was repeated for the remaining syringes: on day 1, the "1" labelled syringes were analyzed; on day 2, the "2" labelled ones, and so on. In a second experiment, blood samples were obtained from 5 different volunteers. The same procedure as above was followed, but each syringe was used for repeated cultures at 2-hour intervals, for a total of 12 cultures/day. The needle was removed and replaced for each inoculation and the syringes were stored in the refrigerator after use. Under these experimental conditions, none of the cultures showed microbial growth. Results suggest that, under the protocol described, preparation, storage and use of undiluted autologous serum in insulin syringes is inexpensive, fast, and microbiologically safe. This is of great importance for low-income countries.
Highlights
The study aimed to investigate whether the preparation, storage, and use of autologous serum in insulin syringes is microbiologically safe
Under the conditions used in this experiment, none of the chocolate and Sabouraud agar plates seeded with undiluted serum showed any microbial growth after aerobic incubation at 37°C for 96 hours
autologous serum (AS) eye-drops have been used for the treatment of ocular surface disorders, such as Sjögren syndromeand graft vs host disease (GvHD)-related keratoconjunctivitis sicca, superior limbal keratoconjunctivitis, recurrent erosion syndrome, persistent epithelial defects resulting from rheumatoid arthritis, neurotrophic keratopathy, or dry eye, as well as an adjunctive treatment in ocular surface reconstruction following Stevens-Johnson syndrome, toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), and cicatricial pemphigoid [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Summary
The study aimed to investigate whether the preparation, storage, and use of autologous serum in insulin syringes is microbiologically safe. Conclusions: Results suggest that, under the protocol described, preparation, storage and use of undiluted autologous serum in insulin syringes is inexpensive, fast, and microbiologically safe. This is of great importance for low-income countries. Eye-drops made from autologous serum (AS) have been reported to be effective in the management of ocular surface disorders, such as persistent epithelial defects and severe dry eye syndrome, and after ocular surface reconstruction [1,2,3,4,5,6] Their beneficial effect on the damaged ocular surface is related to the supply of a series of epitheliotrophic factors [1]. The availability of a cheap and rapid method would be of great importance for low-income countries, where ocular surface disorders needing treatment with AS are common
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