Use of prostacyclin to inhibit activation of platelets during preparation of platelet concentrates

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Abstract
Increased utilization of platelet concentrates (PCs) has created the possibility that demand for this blood component may exceed supply. It seems possible that this problem could be minimized if platelets could be isolated from whole blood and stored with full retention of hemostatic effectiveness. We prepared PCs by adding prostacyclin (PGI2) during the isolation procedure and compared these to PCs prepared without addition of PGI2. At concentration 10(‐7) M, PGI2 inhibited activation of platelets during the process of concentration and resuspension by the criteria of minimal thromboxane production and release of beta thromboglobulin (beta‐TG), in contrast to concentrates prepared by standard methods. These differences persisted throughout 3 days of storage at room temperature. Our findings suggest that further studies are indicated to determine whether the quality (hemostatic effectiveness) of concentrated platelets can be improved by pharmacologic means.