Rejuvenation of Human Red Blood Cells During Liquid Storage.

Blood in ACD was stored under blood banking conditions. At 21 days of storage, aliquots of blood were rejuvenated by incubation at 37 C for one hour, with a solution containing pyruvate, inosine, phosphate, glucose, and adenine, at pH 7.2. The rejuvenated erythrocytes were washed with a solution of NaCl-Na phosphate and resuspended in an artificial medium or in the freshly drawn plasma from the same donor. These suspensions were stored in liquid form and analyzed at predetermined intervals. The cellular ATP and 2,3-DPG levels of rejuvenated cells were higher than those in the control cells and were maintained higher throughout the storage intervals investigated. The metabolic integrity of the rejuvenated cells was also improved, as evidenced by greater osmotic resistance, decreased spontaneous lysis, and greater uptake of methylene blue when compared to control cells.