Centrifugation and Aliquoting of Blood Serum and Plasma

This video shows Dr. Evan Matthews explaining how to centrifuge blood samples and use transfer pipettes to remove the serum or plasma for immediate use or storage.

Link to video showing how to use transfer and precision pipettes.

Link to video showing how to use a microcentrifuge.

Link to Dr. Evan Matthews website.

I attempt to make the most accurate material I can. However, mistakes happen. Below is a list of mistakes identified in this video.

Known errors in this video:

At 1:34 I state that plasma still contains platelets after centrifugation. This is generally not true. The platelets settle into the thin white "buffy coat" that also contains the white blood cells. You can alter the process to create a platelet rich plasma. I have links below on how that works.
See my error:
How to make platelet rich plasma:
Discussion of the buffy coat:

[deviniveditharajkumar]

Amazing demonstration and the principle of each and every process took part. This video serves as a great help for my project!! Thanks a lot! I was desperately searching for such videos. Keep posting various laboratory techniques that are highly utilized.

[eimaanish]

thank you ! not even my teacher knew what to do and you saved my master degree thesis

[WOG]

This is really good! I am a certified medical assistant and just brushing up on my skills and this video is very accurate! Thanks :)

[IsabelRodriguez-nvue]

Thank you very much for creating this video. It provides valuable information and details regarding this process. Thank you for showing how the machine works and the detailed steps necessary to accomplish this lab test. Thanks.

[miroslavkostic]

Nice video, i am Dr vet trying to refresh after decades doing administrative, a little correction 6:50 platelets are spun down in EDTA tubes to cell portion (they lie between RBC's and the buffy coat and if spun correctly it be none in plasma, the difference in these two show on a quick assessment using field refractometar and it is about 7 percent fibrinogen of total (TP) plus 1 percent coags of total (TP) captured in coagulum so if the total blood protein (TP) human plasma is e.g 7.5 g/dl it will be 6.9 g/dl for the same blood sample using serum.

[naziatislam]

I was just searching this experiment for our biology lesson and finally got it.Thanks a lot

[zarinahamin]

I need to look at serum samples in graduate research. This was very helpful. Thank you!

[FATIMA-rvrp]

كررها معي
١-استغفرالله 🌿
٢-الحمدلله🌹
٣-الله اكبر🌼
٤-سبحان الله🌻
٥-لاحول ولاقوة الا بالله 🌺
٦-لا اله الا الله🌿
٧-اللهم صًلِ علـّۓ. محمد وال محمد🍃
اجر لي ولك🥰.

[NewEnglandScene]

This was *very* helpful. I breed border collies via AI and with the crazy prices of progesterone tests have decided to do my own draws and send the samples out to university vet lab. My vet tech friends showed me how to do the draw [butterflies much easier than TB tubes]. This told me how to process them before sending them out. I can do my own tests for 1/3 cost of commercial/vet labs, including shipping.

[mtnriffraff]

Thank you. Very helpful and easy to understand.

[TheWiesle]

figure out a way to get concentrations of the platelets for PHP. that would be very usefull

[jasmineestrada]

Great video! Super clear explanation. Thanks 🙏🏻

[EuniceAdedeji-rgxs]

Thank you sir, but which one is homogenate and pellet

[mohammadehsan]

Hi, Great video 👍🏽 wanted to refresh on extracting prp, when using yellow top tubes with ACD solution is it best to spin for 5 minutes at 4000rpm, remove plasma and spin again for 5 min to achieve cloudy prp at the bottom or just spin for 10 minutes at 4000rpm and extract prp from bottom ? Which of the two methods would produce a more obvious cloudy separation of prp ? thank you in advance ☺️

[shelahlayton]

Thank you! What kind of tube is adequate for holding the plasma? What tube does the plasma get transferred into? Any additives?

[mohamedadilshahkhoodoruth]

Great video. Thanks. So how long typically do we have for the centrifugation step after blood collection?

[hilmirafidan]

is red blood fluid not used for examination?, is it only plasma/serum used?

[dutchessmindzofqueenz]

So the purple top gives serum and red gives plasma...where do you purchase these tubes?

[FrescoEnamya]

Thank you for your video. Could you tell me how much time we have from blood collection to centrifugation in order to have good plasma results? I read somewhere that I shouldn't pass 4h but in my case, it is hard since the collection place is far from the research lab. Thanks

[OmarLemusTactic]

At 6:50, the anticoagulant tube has plasma "with unused coagulation factors" and platelets. Clot formation inside a tube is caused by fibrinogen turning into fibrin (not platelets) by action of thrombin and initially by the contact with the glass from the tube (silica).