Evaluation of refrigerated platelet concentrates supplemented with low doses of second messenger effectors

With the goal of producing haemostatically effective platelet concentrates (PCs) with a longer shelf-life, we aimed to identify a simple combination of platelet inhibitors, with a low pharmacological load, which could avoid the unacceptable loss of platelets stored under refrigerated conditions. PCs stored with different combinations of second messenger effectors were analysed at days 5, 10 and 15 of storage and compared with those supplemented with ThromboSol--a combination of six platelet inhibitors that protects cells from cold damage. The following parameters were analysed: platelet counts, biochemical parameters (glucose, pH, bicarbonate, lactate), cell lysis (lactic dehydrogenase, LDH), membrane glycoproteins (GPs), platelet aggregation, fibrinogen binding and hypotonic shock response. We characterized the combination of amiloride and sodium nitroprusside (at 1/2 the dose included in ThromboSol). This was found to be similar to ThromboSol and superior to nontreated units in the prevention of cold-induced platelet aggregation at day 15 of storage (maintenance of 78% and 80% of initial platelet counts, respectively), preservation of GPIbalpha (11% and 12% better maintenance of mean fluorescence intensity compared with control units, respectively), and reduced cell lysis (13% and 11% decrease in supernatant LDH, respectively). The reduced pharmacological load with the identified solution compared with ThromboSol is an argument in favour of the potential use of these agents when designing strategies to improve PC storage.