The role of mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration in limiting the storage life of human blood.

Human erythrocytes stored for more than 21 days in citrate phosphate dextrose with adenine (CPDA-1) at +4 degrees C had a decreased cell volume, an increased cell density, an elevated mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and hence an elevated internal viscosity. These changes are normally masked by the reversible cell swelling which accompanies storage in CPDA-1. Incubation of stored cells for 24 h at 37 degrees C in fresh autologous plasma mimics the effects of reinfusion and causes the artificially swollen cells to shrink to their true volume. Thus, incubated cells which had been stored in CPDA-1 for more than 21 days exhibited a decreased filterability through Nuclepore membranes in vitro, which is apparently correlated with a decreased survival time in vivo.