Rheological and morphological comparative study of blood stored in different anticoagulant and preservative solutions

Apparent stationary viscosity, viscoelasticity and thixotropy measured with a Couette viscometer, as well as morphology observed by scanning electron microscopy have been determined on blood samples stored in plastic bags at 4 °C in the following anticoagulant and/or preservative solutions: 1) Whole blood in CPD, CPD added with 0.4 mM adenine and enriched with glucose (1.5 time the normal concentration) (CPD-A,D) and ACD with 0.5 mM adenine and 0.25 mM guanosine (ACD-A,Gua); 2) Packed cells from blood collected in CPD, CPD-A,D and ACD-A,Gua; 3) Red blood cells from blood collected in CPD or ACD and resuspended with isotonic saline, adenine, glucose (SAG), or phosphate, adenine, guanosine, glucose, saline (PAGGS) solutions. Addition of adenine and guanosine to ACD improves the morphological and rheological qualities of stored blood. However, the greatest improvement is obtained with CPD/SAG and CPD/PAGGS in which the lower variations of the measured parameters are observed as a function of time. For example, the relative viscosity increase and the discocyte number decrease observed since the first week in whole CPD blood, are found identical only at the 4th or 5th week in CPD/PAGGS.