Effects of prestorage white cell‐reduction of apheresis platelets on platelet glycoprotein Ib and von Willebrand factor

Abstract

Twenty plateletpheresis components were harvested from 11 healthy donors and stored in polyolefin bags on a horizontal flatbed agitator at 22 degrees C. After 24 hours, white cells were reduced in one aliquot by centrifugation while the other aliquot was stored unaltered. Samples were obtained aseptically from each of these platelets at intervals for up to 10 days, and measurements were made of platelet glycoprotein Ib (GPIb) by both flow cytometry and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, of ristocetin-induced platelet aggregation by impedance aggregometry, and of plasma and platelet von Willebrand factor (vWF) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Storage of platelets under these conditions was associated with only minor decreases in surface GPIb, intraplatelet vWF, and ristocetin-induced platelet aggregation, and no differences were observed between the white cell-reduced and nonreduced aliquots. No benefit of white cell reduction in such components before prolonged storage is evident in the vWF-platelet interaction.