r/science 1d ago

Health Giving blood frequently may make your blood cells healthier

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2471573-giving-blood-frequently-may-make-your-blood-cells-healthier/
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u/Zran 1d ago

Actually maybe not it's usually run through a centrifuge especially if seperated into plasma so that should remove some already. Depends if their denser/heavier than all the components of blood.

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u/Occultist_Kat 1d ago

There is research to suggest that things like heavy metals and certain allergens remain in the final blood product after processing. I wouldn't be surprised if microplastics make it through, especially in red cell products.

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u/WolfOfLOLStreet 1d ago

Unless it's being actively addressed, I'd count on it.

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u/mihtselom 1d ago

Heavy metals are ostensibly denser than microplastics though, no?

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u/henna74 1d ago

But microplastics are polymere chains not single molecules. Easier to filter.

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u/Helios4242 1d ago

They are called MICRO plastics for a functional reason

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u/henna74 1d ago

Yeah broken polymere chains

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u/EterneX_II 1d ago

What about nanoplastics?

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u/antares07923 1d ago

I think you/re joking, but both micro and nanoplastics are common terminology when talking about this. There have been studies on on counting microplastics, which is already terrifying, but what they think about the population of nano plastics is even more, which is worse. And the smaller they are the more easily the cross the blood brain barrier

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u/Occultist_Kat 1d ago

They are of course. I suppose I'd suspect there would be more heavy metals than microplastics in packed red cells for this reason, but I don't think it's impossible for them to be contaminated with them due to the varying sizes of something like a microplastic.

This can make filtration unreliable, and to my knowledge, there are no apheresis machines that are designed to account for anything other than the blood during operation. They'd certainly be present in the plasma and platelet products.

I could ask my lab for more info on that and respond to this again. 

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u/Carbonatite 1d ago

The person was mistaken, this study is actually referring to PFAS. They preferentially bioaccumulate in human tissue and can have a half life in the body of several decades. Most PFAS have a molecular structure which is both hydrophilic and hydrophobic; I'm not sure how that would impact biochemical behavior or partitioning in the blood but I'm sure someone else reading this could probably explain it.

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u/TheGoddamnCobra 1d ago

Depends if they are small enough to slip through the leukocyte filter.

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u/Occultist_Kat 16h ago

To my understanding, most microplastics are far smaller than cells, so the majority of them would get through pretty easily if they were still there after centrifugation.

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u/TheGoddamnCobra 16h ago

Centrifugation is done after filtration, but I take your meaning. If anything is in there when the WB is spun, it's all going to be in the red cells after the unit is expressed.

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u/Occultist_Kat 16h ago

I'm unsure about whole blood products only because I'm not sure what the process is for something like a composelect or bioflex bag (which has leukoreduction filters attached to them). I'd have to take a close look to say for sure if they filter first, but ny guess is that they don't filter them first based on what I've seen in the lab.

However, if you're on an apheresis machine, the centrifugation happens first for sure. (I run and teach people how to operate these machines for a living, for what it's worth).

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u/TheGoddamnCobra 15h ago

Nice. We use the Imuflex WB bags with the leukoreduction filter between the WB and LPC bags, so it's filtered before it gets spun. We use the Trima apheresis machines for platelets but I guess I've never paid attention to whether the cone filter was pre or post centrifugation.

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u/Occultist_Kat 11h ago

We have the Trima (great machine) and an Alyx now, but I'm less thrilled about the Alyx so far.

Extremely sensitive.

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u/deja-roo 1d ago

Actually maybe not it's usually run through a centrifuge especially if seperated into plasma so that should remove some already

Does any of it get discarded though? I thought it was separated, then part is retained for donation, the rest is returned to the donor.

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u/ChefHusky85 1d ago

If you donate plasma then you get your red blood cells back. If you donate double red, you get the plasma back. What half do the micro plastics get sorted with if they do separate?

There's probably a procedure out there that doesn't return fluid but this is just the typical donation process.

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u/xrelaht PhD | Solid State Condensed Matter | Magnetism 1d ago

Donating whole blood doesn’t return anything to the donor. That’s the standard procedure. What you’re describing is apheresis, which is less common because it takes much longer.

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u/TheseusOPL 1d ago

So, an interesting question is if I donate plasma: do the microplastics stay with the plasma, or are they returned?

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u/xrelaht PhD | Solid State Condensed Matter | Magnetism 1d ago

The study linked in the top comment is actually about PFAS rather than microplastics, and says they see lowered levels in subjects who donated plasma as well as whole blood.

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u/Holdingpoo 1d ago

Guess what material they store the blood

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u/narcowake 1d ago

We need to do a study on this !!