Effect of AAGP® on Preservation of Blood Platelets at 22°C, 15°C and 4°C

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Hussein and Amjeh, 2005

Introduction

The maximum time for platelets preservation is currently 5 days. The aim of this experiment was to assess the affect of AAGP® on preservation of blood platelets as a separate fraction from whole blood.

Method

Blood platelets were exposed to either 0, 1, or 4mg/ml of AAGP® at temperatures of 22, 15 and 4°C. Viability was measured inversely by monitoring platelet aggregation (an aggregate being defined as over 7 platelets in number) over 21 days post exposure (aggregation is one of the primary indicators of platelet degradation).

Results

At 22°C control samples showed marked (8 per sample) aggregation as early as day 2. However, samples exposed to both 1 and 2mg/ml AAGP® did not experience significant platelet aggregation until day 7. In addition, by day 13 control samples showed three times the number of aggregates in comparison to samples exposed to 2mg/ml AAGP® and nine times the number of aggregates in comparison to the samples exposed to 4mg/ml AAGP®. Thus, there was a significant difference at days 13, 17 and 21 between platelet aggregation for samples exposed to AAGP® and control samples. Samples exposed to the higher (4mg/ml) AAGP® concentration showed less aggregation than those exposed to 2mg/ml AAGP®.

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The same results were observed at 15°C with a significant few hundred percent increase in aggregate counts being observed in the control group (0mg/ml AAGP®) though overall aggregation was less than at 22°C.

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Again, at 4°C overall aggregation is reduced. This highlights, further, the protective effects of AAGP® – by day 21 there were still no aggregates present in the samples exposed to AAGP®. In comparison, there were approximately 20 aggregates per sample in the control (0mg/ml AAGP®) group.

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Conclusion

It can therefore be concluded that AAGP® significantly preserves blood platelets, and reduces platelet aggregation over time at temperatures from 4 – 22°C with the optimum concentration of AAGP® being 4mg/ml.