Blood Cells, Blood Typing

Because 3 different procedures require a drop or 2 of your blood, read through all the exercises, and collect all of the blood samples at the same time.

Blood Cells:

Learning Objectives:

After completing this exercise, you should be able to:

§prepare a stained blood slide

§describe the structure of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets

§Identify red blood cells, 5 types of white blood cells and platelets

Directions:

1.Obtain 2 microscope slides.Wash with a cleaning agent & water, then avoid touching their flat surface. 

2.Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water.Dry with a paper towel.

3.Cleanse the end of your finger with some sterile cotton moistened with 70% alcohol, and let your finger air dry.

4.Remove a sterile disposable blood lancet from its package without touching the sharp end. 

5.Puncture the skin on the tip of your finger with the lancet, and discard the lancet. 

6.Place a drop of blood approx. 2 cm from the end of a clean microscope slide.

7.Use a second slide to spread the blood across the first slide as demonstrated in class.

8.Allow the slide to dry.

9.Examine the slide with low-power magnification, and locate an area where the blood cells are well distributed.Observe these cells, using high-power magnification.

10.Take the slide and put enough Wright’s stain on the slide to cover the smear, but don’t overflow the slide.Count and record the number of drops of stain that you use.

11.After 2 – 3 minutes, add an equal number of drops of distilled water to the stain, and let the slide stand for 4 minutes.From time to time, blow gently on the liquid to mix the water and stain.

12.Flood the slide with distilled water until the blood smear appears light blue. 

13.Tilt the slide to pour off the water [over the sink], and let the slide dry in the air.

14.Examine the slide with low-power magnification ad locate an area where the blood cells are well distributed. 

15.Using a textbook as an aid – identify the various types of blood cells – and prepare sketches of single blood cells to illustrate each type. 

Blood Typing

Learning Objectives:

After completing this exercise, you should be able to:

§explain the basis of ABO blood typing

§determine the ABO type of a blood sample

§explain the basis of Rh blood typing

§describe how the Rh type of a blood ample is determined

Directions for ABO blood typing

1.Obtain a clean microscope slide and with a wax pencil draw a line down the center to divide it into right and left halves.Write anti-A on one side and anti-B on the other. 

2.Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water.Dry with a paper towel.

3.Cleanse the end of your finger with some sterile cotton moistened with 70% alcohol, and let your finger air-dry.

4.Remove a sterile disposable blood lancet from its package without touching the sharp end. 

5.Puncture the skin on the tip of your finger with the lancet, and discard the lancet.

6.Place a drop of blood on each half of the microscope slide.

7.Add a drop of anti – A to the blood on the side marked anti – A, and a drop of anti – b to the blood on the anti-b side. To prevent contaminating the serum, avoid touching the blood with the serum while it is in the dropper; instead allow the serum to fall from the dropper onto the blood.

8.Use separate toothpicks to stir each sample of serum & blood together & spread each over an area about as large as a quarter.

9.Place slide on a piece of paper for contrast and examine the samples for clumping of blood cells [agglutination]. Use the chart available in lab.

10.record your results.

Directions for Rh blood typing

1.Obtain a clean microscope slide

2.Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water.Dry with a paper towel.

3.Cleanse the end of your finger with some sterile cotton moistened with 70% alcohol, and let your finger air-dry.

4.Remove a sterile disposable blood lancet from its package without touching the sharp end. Puncture the skin on the tip of your finger with the lancet, and discard the lancet.

5.Place a drop of blood in the center of the clean microscope slide. 

6.Add a drop of anti-D serum to the blood and mix together with a clean toothpick.

7.Gently rock the slide back & forth to keep the mixture moving & watch for clumping of the blood cells. When clumping occurs in anti-d serum, the clumps are usually smaller than those that appear in anti-a or anti-b serums, so they may be less obvious. However, if clumping occurs, the blood is called Rh positive; if no clumping occurs within 2 minutes, the blood is Rh negative. 

8.Record your results.