The aim of the present study was to improve and validate a flow cytometric method for the detection of homologous blood transfusion in doping control analysis. A panel of eight different primary antibodies and two different phycoerythrin-conjugated secondary antibodies was used for the detection of different blood populations. The flow cytometer used in this study was the BD FACSArray® instrument. Mixed red blood cell populations were prepared from phenotype known donors. Linearity, specificity, recovery, precision, robustness and interday-precision were tested for every primary antibody used in the presented assay. The technique of signal amplification was utilized for an improved separation of antigens with weak or heterozygous expression to improve the interpretation of histograms. The resulting method allowed to clearly identify mixed red blood cell populations in homologous blood transfusion samples containing 0.3 - 2.0 % of donor blood.
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