Preservation of blood platelets concentrates at different temperatures

Abstract The temperature storage of the platelet concentrates (PC) it's of utmost importance in order to preserve the viability and the hemostatic function of the platelets. In the following study we made a comparative evaluation of the PC stored at three different temperatures: Volume, platelet count, pH, pCO2, pO2, in vitro aggregation, bacterial growth, ultrastructure changes and survival, to test its quality and usefulness. The results provide evidence that the PC kept at 27 degrees C showed marked differences compared with the PC stored at 22 degrees C. For example, the platelets showed the strongest morphological changes, less survival and probably a higher metabolic activity than those kept at 22 degrees C. Although the in vitro function was altered, it was recovered after 90 minutes of incubation with fresh frozen plasma. According with these results we can conclude that the in vivo hemostatic activity of these PC is as efficient as those stored at 4 and 22 degrees C, but due to the decreased of the in vivo platelet survival, we support that the 22 degrees C remain as the best temperature for the PC storage.