Suspension media for hematological composition and method for its use

A hematology control product comprising:

• a. a first group of red blood cells suspended in an aqueous solution of a plasma substance, wherein said plasma substance is selected from the group consisting of cholesterol, cholesterol esters, lipoprotein cholesterol, lipoprotein cholesterol esters, cholesterol combined with phospholipids, cholesterol combined with albumin, cholesterol esters combined with albumin, lipoprotein cholesterol combined with phospholipids, lipoprotein cholesterol combined with albumin and mixtures thereof, and
• b. a second group of red blood cells suspended in said solution functioning to substitute for at least one human white blood cell population, said second group of blood cells having been fixed so that they are more resistant to change in cell volume and to dissolution than said first group of cells.

A method for using a cell suspension media comprising:

• a. inserting into an instrument a hematological control product comprising a mixture of (i) at least one white blood cell analog composition comprised of red blood cells, (ii) lysable red blood cells, and (iii) an aqueous solution of a plasma substance, said aqueous solution of plasma substance is in an effective amount to enable a lyric reagent to lyse the lysable red blood cells in the hematology control product, and enable each type of white blood cell analogs in said hematology control product to be differentiated, and
• b. analyzing at least one parameter of the hematological control product in said instrument to determine if the instrument is functioning within specification, said parameters comprising D.C. volume, RF size, opacity, and light scatter.

A hematology control product comprising at least one leukocyte cell analog that has been prepared by washing blood cells, treating said washed blood cells with an organic aldehyde and mixing said treated blood cells with an aqueous solution of a plasma substance, wherein said plasma substance selected from the group consisting of cholesterol, cholesterol esters, lipoprotein cholesterol, lipoprotein cholesterol esters, cholesterol combined with phospholipids, cholesterol combined with albumin, cholesterol esters combined with albumin, lipoprotein cholesterol combined with albumin and mixtures thereof, and wherein said plasma substance is present in an amount effective to maintain at least one of the physical properties of said cells similar to human leukocytes, said physical properties comprising D.C. volume, RF size, light scatter and opacity.

A method for using a cell suspension media, comprising:

• a. inserting into an instrument a hematological control product containing washed blood cells and a cell suspension media, said cell suspension media comprising an aqueous solution of a plasma substance selected from the group consisting of cholesterol, cholesterol esters, lipoprotein cholesterol, lipoprotein cholesterol esters, cholesterol combined with phospholipids, cholesterol combined with albumin, cholesterol esters combined with albumin, lipoprotein cholesterol combined with phospholipids, lipoprotein cholesterol combined with albumin and mixtures thereof;
• and
• b. analyzing at least one parameter of the resulting mixture in an instrument to determine if the instrument is functioning within specification, said parameters comprising D.C. volume, RF size, opacity, and light scatter.