Thimerosal dependent agglutination, a newly described blood bank problem.
A number of ABO grouping, Rh typing, antibody screening, and antibody identification problems are associated with chemicals in blood bank reagents. We describe a newly discovered agglutination phenomenon due to a thimerosal (Merthiolate)-dependent agglutinin found in the serum of a normal blood donor. Thimerosal is used as a preservative in several low-ionic strength reagents. This agglutination phenomenon is detected only in test systems (low-ionic-strength, albumin, saline, ficin treated test cells) in which test cells are incubated in the presence of thimerosal. Agglutination does not occur in the absence of thimerosal. The thimerosal-dependent agglutinin behaves like an IgG IgG autoantibody. There is no evidence that the thimerosal-dependent agglutinin is responsible for increased red cell destruction.
D000328:Adult; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000096:biosynthesis; D001782:Blood Donors; D001788:Blood Grouping and Crossmatching; D005035:Ethylmercury Compounds / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006384:Hemagglutination / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D011309:Preservation, Biological; D013849:Thimerosal / Q000009:adverse effects*
D001323:Autoantibodies; D005035:Ethylmercury Compounds; D013849:Thimerosal