ALBERT

Description: Background: Platelets are required for effective treatment of severe hemorrhage. Standard-of-care storage is at room temperature (RT), but leads to a storage lesion characterized by loss of hemostatic function and increased risk of bacterial contamination. Refrigeration (4C) mitigates adverse effects; however, it results in pre-activation or priming, which may be suggestive of prothrombotic tendencies. We previously showed that 4C-stored platelets (4C-PLT) retain responses to physiological inhibitors comparable to those of fresh platelets (FR-PLT) in two static aggregation assays. To more closely mimic in-vivo conditions, we tested adhesive response in a microfluidic environment under physiologic high-shear flow. We hypothesized that 4C-PLT display superior adhesion compared to standard-of-care (RT-PLT) and that platelet hemostatic inhibition due to prostacyclin and nitric oxide (NO) would be similar to fresh. Methods: Apheresis platelets (AP) collected from 4 healthy donors were stored for 5 days at RT (22-24°C) or 4C (1-6°C). Additional whole blood was collected to obtain red blood cells (RBCs). Platelet samples were assayed on Day 1 (fresh) and Day 5 (RT-PLT and 4C-PLT) in the presence or absence of prostacyclin (10 nM Prostaglandin I2, PGI2) or an NO donor (50 uM S-Nitrosoglutathione, GSNO). Bioflux plates (Fluxion) were coated with 100 µg/ml type-1 collagen. Prior to perfusion, platelets were stained with calcein-AM (300x103PLT/ul) and RBCs were added to a hematocrit of 40%. Samples were perfused through the collagen-coated wells at an arterial shear rate of 720s-1, and compared to bovine serum album (BSA)-coated channels as a control to assess nonspecific binding. A fluorescence microscope acquired images every 30 sec for 6 min. Data were reported as fluorescence intensity units (FIU) and surface coverage (SC%) measured with Bioflux Montage (MetaMorph) software. Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA and a post hoc Tukey test for multiple comparisons. Significance was p