Evaluation of high hydrostatic pressure effects on bovine red blood cells and platelets

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) on the stability of red blood cells (RBCs) and platelets. Bovine blood cells (n=5) were treated with the pressure of 55, 110, 154 and 220 MPa at 25 °C for 5 min. Light microscopy, atomic force microscopy and flow cytometry studies revealed that RBCs were morphologically stable up until the 220 MPa pressure treatments, at which surface modifications were observed. The platelets were found to be less stable than RBCs. HHP application did not cause any significant change in the signal intensity, band area and frequency values of the infrared bands with the exception that a significant variation was observed in the area of the cholesterol band. No statistically significant variations were observed in the secondary structure elements due to HHP treatment according to the artificial neural network study based on the FTIR data.

Keywords:

• high hydrostatic pressure (HHP)
• blood
• Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)
• flow cytometry (FC)
• atomic force microscopy (AFM)

Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by Middle East Technical University, Turkey, Grant No: BAP-2004-07-02-00-48. We would like to thank Nusret Taheri for allowing us to use the flow cytometer in the Medical Center of METU and Prof. Dr Aykut Özkul for his helpful discussions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cagatay Ceylan

†Present address: Department of Food Engineering, Izmir Institute of Technology, Izmir, Turkey.