title: Active cooling of whole blood to room temperature improves blood component quality.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many countries use cooling plates to actively cool collected whole blood (WB) to room temperature. Until now, no paired comparison had been performed, and it was our aim to compare the effect of active versus no active cooling on the in vitro quality of WB and subsequently prepared blood components.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two units of WB were pooled and divided shortly after donation. One unit was placed under a butane-1,4-diol plate to obtain active cooling; the other was placed in an insulated box with other warm units to mimic worst-case holding conditions. WB was held overnight and processed into a white blood cell (WBC)-reduced red blood cells (RBCs), buffy coat (BC), and plasma. The BCs were further processed into platelet (PLT) concentrates. RBCs were stored for 42 days, and PLT concentrates for 8 days (n = 12 paired experiments).
  
  
  RESULTS
  After overnight storage, ATP content of the RBCs was 4.9 ± 0.3 µmol/g Hb for actively cooled WB versus 4.5 ± 0.4 µmol/g Hb for not actively cooled WB (p < 0.001). On Day 42 of storage, RBCs prepared from this WB contained 3.1 ± 0.3 µmol ATP/g Hb with active cooling versus 2.6 ± 0.3 µmol/g Hb without (p < 0.001). Hemolysis on Day 42 was 0.35 ± 0.08% with active cooling and 0.67 ± 0.21% without (p < 0.001). No effect was observed on the in vitro quality of plasma, BC, or PLT concentrates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Active cooling of WB results in improved ATP levels and less hemolysis in WBC-reduced RBCs, although the clinical implications are unclear. It has no effect on the in vitro quality of plasma or PLT concentrates.
authors.affiliation: Research and Development, Sanquin Blood Bank North West, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. p.vandermeer@sanquin.nl
authors.forename: Pieter F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: van der Meer
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: de Korte
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000097:blood; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000502:physiology; D001793:Blood Preservation / Q000379:methods*; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000379:methods*; D004909:Erythrocyte Indices; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000502:physiology; D006461:Hemolysis; D006801:Humans; D047589:Leukocyte Reduction Procedures; D010949:Plasma; D013046:Specific Gravity; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate