In terms of like a whole blood donation or plasmapheresis? Plasma can be any color, from yellow to orange to brownish to white to green. A typical unit will be yellowish, similar to, as weird as it sounds, beer. Those units that came from individuals that ate a high-fat meal (such as a Big Mac) before donating, or that have chronic high-cholesterol, will be lipemic and milky white in appearance, whereas those that came from individuals that take certain medications (such as birth control) may be green. It depends on certain factors such as medications, the health of the donor, how well it spun in the centrifuge, etc. White cells are disposed of after being filtered out (unless you are making buffy coats to fill an order for research purposes, etc.), and platelets are never thrown out unless they are unacceptable in appearance, expired, or if they become air contaminated. They can be transfused as well. Also, chemeng79 is incorrect. There are plenty of reasons why a hopsital would perform a plasma transfusion. You do not transfuse “100% blood” (I’m assuming that meant whole blood). That would make no sense, unless you were donating it to someone with the same exact blood type as you (ABO and Rh), and that would make it very difficult for hopsitals to always be able to procure what they needed for each patient. Not to mention that each component of blood performs a different function. As an O-, for example, you can give your red blood cells to anyone, but only individuals with O- or O+ blood can receive your platelets and plasma. Conversely, as an O-, you can only receive O- red blood cells, but you can receive plasma from any type, and you can receive platelets from any Rh- type (A-, O-, B-, and AB-). Blood is such a complex substance with multiple components. You can’t just go around giving people whole blood transfusions right and left....
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