Buoyant density of platelets stored at room temperature as platelet concentrates.

Separation of platelets by buoyant density centrifugation was periodically performed on platelet concentrates stored up to 96 hr at room temperature. By 72 hr, platelets were much lighter, depending on pH, platelet concentration, and volume of the bag. The mean proportion of platelets in the light fraction (fraction 1) shifted from 4.3% when the concentrate was fresh to 52.2% at 72 hr and 53.6% at 96 hr. The majority of platelets had densities that ranged from 1.034 to 1.088 gm/ml after storage, whereas densities ranged from 1.054 to 1.088 gm/ml in fresh cells. With storage, the light cells became larger than when they were fresh and were mostly balloon-shaped; the heavy cells became smaller but retained their normal shape. Regression analysis showed that density distribution was highly correlated to pH. Most of the changes occurred after 12 hr; those changes that occurred during the initial 12 hr were not related to pH of the platelet concentrate. The changes were related to storage conditions and may reflect injury to the cells. The use of buoyant density separation may be a useful tool to study storage mechanisms and provide a means of separating cells modified by storage stress.