Disclosed is a centrifugable syringe and syringe components for use in blood fractionation. Also disclosed is a method of blood fractionation using the syringe. The syringe comprises a substantially transparent barrel, a substantially transparent, elongated delineation neck, a plunger for drawing blood into and expelling blood from the barrel, and an adapter attached to the neck for enabling releasable connection of a selected device over an inlet/outlet opening in the neck. The delineation neck extends away from a distal end of the barrel. The barrel and the neck have respective axial bores in fluid flow communication with each other, the cross sectional area of the bore in the delineation neck being substantially less than the cross sectional area of the bore in the barrel. The selected device may be one of various devices including a capping device sealing the inlet/outlet opening of the neck, a needle device used during withdrawal of blood from a subject through the neck, or a hose device used to carry away delineated blood fractions from the syringe through the neck.

Apparatus and methods for concentrating platelet-rich plasma is described herein. One variation may generally comprise a tube having a length and defining a channel within and one or more ports located at a proximal end of the tube and in fluid communication with the channel. A plunger may slidably translatable within the channel while forming a seal against an inner surface of the channel and a float may have a pre-selected density and defining a concave interface surface, wherein the float is slidably contained within the channel such that the concave interface surface is in apposition to the one or more ports.

Acoustophoretic devices are disclosed. The devices include a flow chamber, an ultrasonic transducer, a reflector, an inlet, a filtrate outlet, a concentrate outlet, and optionally a lipid collection trap. The ultrasonic transducer and reflector create a multi-dimensional acoustic standing wave in the flow chamber that traps and separates red blood cells and/or lipids from blood. Concentrated red blood cells can be recovered via the concentrate outlet, the lipids can be recovered via the lipid collection trap, and the remaining blood can be recovered via the filtrate outlet. Methods for separating blood components (e.g., red blood cells, lipids, platelets, white blood cells) from blood are also disclosed. The red blood cells can undergo washing with a solvent to remove undesired admixtures. Cryoprotectants can be added or removed from the blood.

A body fluid component separating device according to an embodiment may comprise: a housing; a piston which divides the housing into a first space and a second space and connects the first space and the second space via fluid-connection; and a manipulator which is coupled to the piston to be operable and is configured to maintain a pressure balance between the first space and the second space, adjust movement of the piston between a first location at which the first space has a first volume and a second location at which the first space has a second volume that is different from the first volume, and fix the piston on an arbitrary location between the first location and the second location.

A whole blood separator device has a sleeve. The sleeve has a sleeve body. The sleeve body has an enlarged first proximal end portion and an enlarged second distal end portion and an intermediate cylindrical tube portion connecting the first proximal end portion and the second distal end portion. The sleeve body is configured to fit inside a test tube and receive whole blood which can be separated by centrifugation into a plasma layer in the proximal end portion, a buffy coat layer in the intermediate portion and a red blood cell portion in the distal portion. The whole blood separator device wherein at least the proximal end portion has an open end. Preferably, the distal end portion also has an open end.

A method of delivering a therapeutic agent to a nucleus pulposus of an intervertebral disc is provided. The method comprises inserting a delivery tool containing the therapeutic agent through an anterior portion, a lateral portion, or an anterolateral portion of an annulus fibrosus and into the nucleus pulposus of the intervertebral disc and delivering the therapeutic agent to the nucleus pulposus of the intervertebral disc. Devices and kits are also provided.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a method for extracting at least 55% of immunoglobulin such as IgG present in a biological fluid from the biological fluid, comprising contacting a biological fluid suspected of containing immunoglobulin with a solid support covalently bonded to a ligand that specifically binds to immunoglobulin under conditions sufficient for non-covalent binding of immunoglobulin to the ligand; and contacting the solid support with an elution solution under condition whereby the non-covalently bound immunoglobulin is released from the ligand and into the elution solution, wherein at least 55% of the IgG present in the biological fluid is extracted into the elution solution. In some embodiments, the invention provides a method for enriching immunoglobulin from a biological fluid comprising obtaining an initial biological fluid suspected of containing immunoglobulin and removing non-immunoglobulin components naturally occurring in the initial biological fluid to obtain a non-immunoglobulin component-reduced biological fluid. The invention further provides a containers, such as a bags and columns, and apheresis systems for performing or use in the methods.

Disclosed is a bioprocessing system comprising apparatus (200) including a centrifugal separation housing (210) having a temperature controllable compartment (215) for removably accepting a separation chamber (50), the apparatus further comprising at least one mixing station (250) for supporting one or more fluid storage vessels (10, 20, 30, 40), the station including a temperature controllable area (252) for increasing or decreasing the temperature of the contents of the or each supported vessel. The system further includes a disposable fluidic arrangement (100) including a centrifugal separation chamber (50) removably mountable within the compartment (215) and having one or more ports (52) allowing fluid ingress into, or egress out of the chamber, via the one or more ports in use, said ports being in fluid communication with one or more of said fluid storage vessels via fluid conduits (12, 22, 32, 42) and via one or more valve arrangement.

Systems and methods for performing low volume (e.g., 500 mL or less) extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) procedures are disclosed. Each of the different systems and methods eliminates the need for multiple kits and solutions and reduce some of the potential risks inherent in the use of such multiple kits and solutions.

A system and method are provided for performing predictive permeation on the skin of a patient, particularly where the skin has no corneum. For this purpose, a device is provided which has an elongated probe, with an electrode array that extends along an active segment of the probe. Also, a voltage source is connected to the electrode array to generate an electric field. Operationally, an electro-conductive emulsion is applied onto the skin of the patient where the predictive permeation procedure is to be performed and the probe is positioned to contact the skin to be treated. The emulsion then interacts with the electric field that is generated by the electrode array to increase the permeability of the skin. Particles from a blood sample of the patient are included in the emulsion, and are introduced into the skin during the predictive permeation procedure to increase skin density.