Preparing platelet concentrates from banked blood stored for 1-5 days by using tetracycline antibiotics

It was shown that storage of banked blood up to five days did not change number of platelets and their functional integrity was retained rather well. That made possible the development of a method for preparation of viable platelet concentrates (PC) from stored blood. This method is based on the reversibility of the tetracycline antibiotics inhibitory effect on platelet activation process. According to the results of our in vitro studies PC from stored blood seem to be suitable for clinical usage. This tetracycline method of PC preparation from stored blood may provide a more efficient utilization of available donor blood to meet the ever-expanding needs for PC transfusions.