title: Assessment of human platelet survival in the NOD/SCID mouse model: technical considerations.
abstract: The NOD/SCID mouse model is a unique and sophisticated method to study the survival of human platelets (PLTs) in vivo. Meanwhile, several research groups adopted this model to analyze a wide range of PLT antibodies. Differences exist between the research groups regarding the method of PLT injection, the amount and route of antibody injection, and the preparation of blood samples collected from the animal, making it difficult to compare results between studies.
  
  
  
  We compared the survival of human PLTs infused into NOD/SCID mice via the tail vein or the retro-orbital plexus. The percentage of circulating human PLTs in the mouse circulation was determined by flow cytometry. Murine blood samples were prepared using two different methods: 1) direct fixation of whole blood samples and 2) isolation of PLTs by density gradient centrifugation.
  
  
  
  Recovery of human PLTs after tail vein injection was comparable to retro-orbital injection (13% vs. 11% of all circulating PLTs, p = 0.401). However, the survival rate of tail vein-infused PLTs was higher than that of retro-orbitally injected PLTs (median PLT survival after 5 hr 84% vs. 56%, p = 0.025). Moreover, we observed that determination of circulating human PLTs in directly fixed murine whole blood samples shows better reproducibility compared to the density gradient centrifugation method.
  
  
  
  Tail vein injection of human PLTs into the NOD/SCID mice is superior to retro-orbital injection in terms of human PLT survival. Direct fixation of whole blood samples allows better reproducibility of results compared to the density gradient centrifugation method.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fuhrmann
authors.affiliation: Institute for Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Rabie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jouni
authors.affiliation: Institute for Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alex
authors.affiliation: Institute for Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zöllner
authors.affiliation: Institute for Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wesche
authors.affiliation: Institute for Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Greinacher
authors.affiliation: Institute for Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.|Zentrum für Klinische Transfusionsmedizin Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Tamam
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bakchoul
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D002470:Cell Survival; D017690:Cell Transplantation; D064593:Heterografts; D006801:Humans; D007518:Isoantibodies; D051379:Mice; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD; D023421:Models, Animal; D017713:Platelet Transfusion / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D007518:Isoantibodies