BIOCHEMICAL LESIONS OF PLATELETS STORED AS CONCENTRATES IN PVC BAGS

Acid-base status of platelet suspension during storage is a measure of the gas permeability of the bag material. To assess the efficacy of t he bags available in our market to store platelets, we compared bioche mical lesions of platelets stored in an Indian polyvinyl chloride (PVC ) triple bag against a Japanese PVC bag standardized for 5 days platel et storage. Platelet concentrates prepared in both control and test PV C bags were stored for 72 h. Two ml samples were drawn 1 h after prepa ration, and then at 24 h intervals, for analysis. Our data show that t he mean pH value in the test bags was maintained above 6.5. However, t he CO2 tension was high and O-2 tension was low. We also analyzed malo ndialdehyde (MDA) formation which is a measure of arachidonic acid met abolism, and seemed to be unaffected in stored platelets. Lactate dehy drogenase (LDH) was not released into the plasma excessively anti henc e significant platelet lysis was absent during storage. Hypotonic shoc k response (HSR) of platelets stored in both test and control bags was comparable, indicating the possibility of satisfactory post-transfusi on recovery.