FIGURE 1.
Blood donor BMI is associated with increased hemolysis during cold storage of RBCs and with reduced posttransfusion recovery in NSG mice. Leukoreduced RBC units from 18 donors were stored for 6 weeks and tested weekly as described under methods. Hemolysis measurements were evaluated for each BMI group (<25 kg/m2, normal weight, n = 4; 25-29.9 kg/m2, overweight, n = 7; ≥30 kg/m2, obese, n = 7). A, Percent storage hemolysis. B, Percent osmotic hemolysis. C, Percent AAPH-induced oxidative hemolysis. D, Posttransfusion recovery of 6-week-old leukoreduced RBC transfused into NSG mice. N = 14 of which n = 3 for BMI <25 kg/m2, n = 6 for BMI 25-29.9 kg/m2, and n = 5 for BMI ≥30 kg/m2. Data are represented as mean ± SEM. Asterisks denote significance (P < 0.05, repeated measures two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s multicomparison test) of differences between nonobese (<25 or 25-29.9 kg/m2) and obese samples (A); <25 vs ≥30 kg/m2 (B); and between 25-29.9 and BMI ≥30 kg/m2 (D)