Modified PBS buffer for red blood cells washing - [urgent, need opinions] (Sep/21/2010 )

Hi all,

A 1 liter 1X PBS solution consist of 8g of NaCl, 0.2g of KCl, 1.44g of Na2HPO4, 0.24g of KH2PO4

I plan to use it for washing my red blood cells.
However, I am lack of NaCl at the moment and have CaCl2 on hand.

If I were to replace NaCl with CaCl2,
should I go with equal weight (replace 8g of NaCl with 8g CaCl2), or equal molarity, in order to avoid hemolysis of my blood cells?

I'm unable to experiment it because I do not have spare blood samples.

Let me know how you think.

Thanks.

cacl2 is not a substitute for nacl. ca can effect reactions on which nacl has little or no effect (eg- proteolysis).

you may be able to substitute kcl for nacl but kcl may cause its own problems. your best bet is to find some nacl (from another lab, from the supermarket (without iodine)).

Hi MD,
Thanks for your reply...
guess i have to do shopping now..LOL
order chemicals takes months to arrive here... geezz