Oxygen consumption, platelet aggregation and release reactions in platelets freeze-preserved with dimethylsulfoxide

Platelets were frozen with 4% or 5% DMSO at an overall rate of 2 to 3 C per minute and were stored at -80 C for as long as 10 months. They were washed with DMSO-plasma and acid-citrate-dextrose (ACD) solutions and were stored in 30 ml of autologous plasma at room temperature for about three hours before transfusion. Measurements were made of oxygen consumption, platelet aggregation and release reaction, platelet factor-3 and-4 activities, and platelet response to hypotonic stress. Platelet basal and latex stimulated oxygen consumption were found to be significantly impaired; platelet aggregation response to ADP, epinephrine, and collagen were decreased; platelet ATP and ADP content and release reactions were decreased; platelet antiheparin activity (platelet factor-4 level) was decreased; and the platelet response to hypotonic stress was impaired. What the results of these in vitro tests mean in relation to in vivo survival and hemostatic function of preserved platelets was not established.