III.—New Developments in Large-scale Plasma Fractionation

Abstract

‘Selective transfusion of appropriate blood components is preferable to the routine use of whole blood.’ (American Association of Blood Banks.Physicians' Handbook of Blood Component Therapy, 1969).The rational use of donor blood in the environment of modern blood transfusion revolves around a series of developments in the field of component therapy. The fractionation of plasma, i.e. the separation of plasma into a series of subdivisions each containing one or other of the constituent proteins in varying degrees of purity and concentration, was one of the first of these developments to become established.Early fractionation of plasma was applied in various ways to the purification of animal antisera; initially to antipneumococcal serum for therapeutic use. These sera frequently provoked reactions in patients until Sabin showed that absorption with Fullers earth could abolish these side-effects by removing complexed molecules.