Breaking the rules? X-ray examination of hematopoietic stem cell grafts at international airports.
Hematopoietic stem cell grafts from unrelated donors are commonly transported by aircraft. They must not be subjected to x-rays during security checks, which may cause inconvenient discussions between the courier and the airport security staff. We exposed hematopoietic stem cells from mobilized peripheral blood to a widely used x-ray hand-luggage control system. Cell viability as well as growth in vitro of mature progenitor cells (colony-forming cells), primitive progenitor cells (long-term culture-initiating cells), and lymphocytes were not altered even after 10 passages through the hand-luggage control system. Thus, repeated exposure to the low radiation dose of hand-luggage control systems (1.5 +/- 0.6 microSv per exposure) seems to be harmless for hematopoietic stem cells, which should simplify the international transport of stem cell grafts.
Petzer
Andreas L
AL
Division of Haematology and Oncology, University Hospital, Innsbruck, Austria. andreas.petzer@uibk.ac.at
Speth
Hans-Georg
HG
Hoflehner
Elisabeth
E
Clausen
Johannes
J
Nachbaur
David
D
Gastl
Günther
G
Gunsilius
Eberhard
E
D001359:Aviation; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000528:radiation effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000592:standards; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000528:radiation effects*; D006801:Humans; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000592:standards; D014965:X-Rays