Sugar May Extend Life of Blood Platelets reports on a life-saving discovery:
A little dab of sugar may double the shelf life of blood platelets, a lifesaving clotting component that is in chronic short supply because of spoilage.Harvard University researchers report this week in the journal Science that laboratory tests show that putting a small amount of galactose, a type of sugar, into isolated platelets allows the blood components to be refrigerated and usefully preserved for at least 12 days.
That more than doubles the shelf life of the current routine, which is to store the platelets at room temperature for only five days. Because of spoilage, more than 25 percent of all platelets taken from donated blood must be discarded. Extending the shelf life of platelets would significantly improve the supply, experts say.
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Once they are separated, platelets are very fragile. If they are refrigerated, as whole blood is, the platelets undergo a chemical change that makes them the target of macrophages, one of the body’s immune cells. When chilled platelets are transfused, they are engulfed and killed by the macrophages. For this reason, platelets are stored at room temperature and become useless after five days.Room temperature storage also causes bacteria to grow in warm platelets. Refrigeration, if it was possible, would prevent this.
A team of researchers at Harvard and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston have found that platelets can be refrigerated and remain useful for about 12 days if they add a small amount of galactose.
Dr. Karin M. Hoffmeister, first author of the Science study, said macrophages attack chilled platelets because the immune cell targets another type of sugar on the surface of the transfused cell. Adding galactose covers up that other sugar and protects the platelets from the macrophages.
I’d like to point out that (a) galactose sounds like an interstellar tyrant, and (b) chilled, sugar-coated platelets sound like a tasty treat.
Addendum: My brother made a good point:
In reference to point (a), the interstellar tyrant should, of course, be known as Galactose the Intolerant.