Quality assessment of platelets stored in a modified platelet additive solution with trehalose at low temperature (10 °C) and in vivo effects on rabbit model of thrombocytopenia

Abstract

Trehalose is widely used as a cryoprotective reagent to preserve various cells. Platelet additive solution-III (PAS) has been used to maintain platelet function, benefit the virus inactivation, and extend the storage period. PAS with trehalose (PAS-III M + T) may effectively protect platelets (PLTs) at a relatively low temperature (10 °C). The apheresis PLTs from six donors were divided into two groups. Group A was stored in PAS-III M + T at 10 °C as experimental group and group B in plasma at 22 °C as control group. The samples were collected on different storage dates, and multiple parameters were determined or investigated for in vitro studies. The in vivo recovery and survival of rabbit PLTs stored in the same conditions, and then labeled with ⁵¹Cr were measured and evaluated using a rabbit model of thrombocytopenia. Over 9 days, P-selectin expression increased significantly in a time-dependent manner in both groups (n = 6). The levels of the hypotonic shock reaction and PLT aggregation rate decreased in both groups and were significantly higher in group A than B after 1 day of storage. The lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release and glucose (GLU) consumption increased similarly, but the levels were significantly lower in group A than B. The pH decreased significantly after 5 days of storage in group B but did not change in group A. After 5 days, the morphology of the PLTs in group B maintained a more normal shape than that of group A. The recovery and survival of PLTs stored in both groups were not significantly different (p > 0.05). The bacteria growth was not examined out in both groups for up to 5 (group A) and 9 (group B) days. Storage of PLTs in the modified PAS at low temperature was more effective in protecting PLT functions than that of standard storage method and may have the potential to decrease the risk of PLT activation and bacterial contamination.

• Cold storage
• PAS
• platelet
• trehalose

Acknowledgements

The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Southwest Hospital.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest relevant to this manuscript. Funding

This work was in part supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 81270649) and the “12.5” Military Medical Important Project of China (ASW11J007-03; ASW11J007-05). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Author contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: Z.S.M. Performed the experiments: W.X., L.J., S.R.H., F.Y.H. Analyzed the data: W.X., F.Y.H. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: L.R.Q. Wrote the paper: W.X., Z.S.M.