An evaluation of the effects of polyvinylpyrrolidone on blood typing with anti-Rh serum: importance of albumin concentration.

Abstract

Discussion and ConclusionsThe present work, in agreement with the results of others (14, 15), indicated that the titer can vary as a function of PVP concentration (Fig. 1). In addition, however, the present experiments showed the importance of the relationship between bovine albumin and PVP concentrations in systems utilizing both of these polymers. For example, the order of titers obtained with various levels of bovine albumin could be reversed (i.e., from 18.3% > 10% > 5% to 5% > 10% > 18.3%) simply by changing the concentration of K-90 PVP from 0 to 1% (Fig. 2).There is no specific requirement for the level of protein in commercial typing sera (12), and there is appreciable variation in the albumin content of such antisera. It is therefore apparent that if an investigator intends to use a system involving PVP and commercial anti-Rh serum, different levels of PVP may be necessary to achieve optimal results with different antisera. Furthermore, the possibility of false results in Rh typing in the presenc...