Maintenance of low screen filtration pressure in blood stored in a new liquid medium: BAGPM.

Formation of microaggregates in blood stored in conventional media is reflected by rapidly rising screen filtration pressure (SFP). We show that the BAGPM (bicarbonate, adenine, glucose, phosphate, and mannitol) blood preservation system maintains SFP at near normal levels throughout the storage period of 42 days. Whenever the SFP had a tendency to rise in BAGPM blood, filtration through a routine in-line blood filter reverted SFP back to baseline levels. Blood from the same donors stored in citrate-phosphate-dextrose (CPD) adenine had a rapidly rising SFP by 7 to 14 days of storage. Filtration through the routine blood filter had no effect on the SFP of blood stored in CPD-adenine, CPD, or ACD. BAGPM not only maintains adequate levels of ATP and 2,3-diphosphoglyceric acid (2,3-DPG) during full 42 days of storage but also offers a unique system in which microparticulate material is prevented from forming, with maintenance of low SFP, perhaps because of its low leukocyte, platelet, and fibrinogen content.