Donor Animal Blood & Serum

Donor Animal Blood & Serum

E&O supply freshly harvested aseptically collected Donor Horse Blood and Sheep Blood. These blood products are oxygenated and supplied in both Bottles and Bags for convenient asceptical addition to culture media. Plasma products can be fractionated after the addition of a range of anticoagulants: Citrate, Alsevers, Sodium Oxolate, Heparin and EDTA.

All donor animal blood products are harvested from Stress Free Animals with guaranteed PCV’s and free from any microbiological inhibitors. The most common use is for the manufacture of Blood Agar Plates. Dehydrated culture media (Columbia Agar) is added to deionised water and then sterilized at 121°C. The molten agar is then cooled to 42°C, fresh Horse Blood or Sheep Blood is then added at a 5% or 7% concentration before being poured into petridishes.

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  • It is not possible to sterilise whole blood products and therefore they must be collected aseptically. Horse and sheep blood are the most widely used animal blood products in culture media. The choice of  which type of blood to use with culture media is largely traditional, with much of continental Europe preferring sheep blood, whilst the UK and certain parts of the Commonwealth  prefer horse blood. Defibrinated horse blood is aseptically collected whole horse blood that has been processed to remove fibrin. There are no additives or preservatives in this product. Defibrination is now accepted as the best method of preventing blood clotting. It must be carried out immediately after drawing the blood and the agitation must be sufficient to denature the fibrinogen but not to cause rupture of the erythrocytes and haemolysis. The haemolytic reactions of horse blood are not identical to sheep blood and blood agar media designed for horse blood may not be satisfactory with sheep blood and vice versa.
  • It is not possible to sterilise whole blood products and therefore they must be collected aseptically. Horse and sheep blood are the most widely used animal blood products in culture media. The choice of  which type of blood to use with culture media is largely traditional, with much of continental Europe preferring sheep blood, whilst the UK and  certain parts of the Commonwealth  prefer horse blood. Defibrinated sheep cells are aseptically collected whole sheep blood that has been processed to remove fibrin. There are no additives or preservatives in this product. Defibrination is now accepted as the best method of preventing blood clotting. It must be carried out immediately after drawing the blood and the agitation must be sufficient to denature the fibrinogen but not to cause rupture of the erythrocytes and haemolysis. The haemolytic reactions of sheep blood are not identical to the reactions of horse blood and blood agar media designed for sheep blood may not be satisfactory with horse blood and vice versa.
  • Lysed horse blood is used for special purposes in culture media. It has been used for many years in Corynebacterium diphtheriae media, where better growth was observed after lysis of the horse blood by the tellurite in the medium. It is also documented that lysed blood stimulates the growth of Haemophilus influenzae due to the release of Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide in the horse blood from the ruptured erythrocytes. In antibiotic susceptibility testing, lysed horse blood is added to the medium to improve the reactions with trimethoprim and sulphonamides. Most culture media, unless specially processed for susceptibility testing, contain amounts of thymidine which can antagonise the inhibitory effects of these antimicrobials. When horse blood is lysed the erythrocytes release an enzyme thymidine phosphorylase which converts thymidine into the much less antagonistic compound thymine.
  • This product is primarily used as a fixation agent in immunological complement fixation assays. The Sodium citrate acts as an anticoagulant in the Alsever’s solution once it is combined with the sheep blood.
  • E&O Heat Inactivated Serum is derived from horse serum and is suitable for use in diagnostic assays. One of the reasons for the heat inactivation of serum (heating to 56°C for 30 min) is to inactivate complement, a group of proteins present in serum that are part of the immune response. This is sometimes important for cells that will be used to prepare or assay viruses, used in cytotoxicity assays or other systems where complement may have an unwanted influence. The use of Heat Inactivated Serum is also usually recommended for growing embryonic stem cells. After filtration the dispensing and bottle filling processes are carried out in a state-of-the-art clean room under laminar flow. Once labelled the filled bottles are then subjected to controlled heat inactivation and are frozen and stored at -20°C without delay. The filter sterile Heat Inactivated Horse Serum is supplied in 100 or 500 ml PETG bottles. All E&O products are for in vitro use only. E&O products are intended only for use by qualified professionals who will safely handle and dispose of products they receive. All biologically derived materials (e.g. blood, sera) should be handled as if a potential biohazard. E&O media that contain antibiotics should be handled with care. Chemical resistant gloves, eye protection and laboratory coat should be worn.
  • All E&O products are for in vitro use only. E&O products are intended only for use by qualified professionals who will safely handle and dispose of products they receive. All biologically derived materials (e.g. blood, sera) should be handled as if a potential biohazard. E&O media that contain antibiotics should be handled with care. Chemical resistant gloves, eye protection and laboratory coat should be worn.