The Effect of Incubation and Storage on Human Platelet Structure as Studied by Electron Microscopy

D ESPITE the well-known susceptibility of platelets to damage on handling or storage comparatively little has been written about the changes which platelets undergo on incubation or storage. Nevertheless, numerous studies have been undertaken employing platelets incubated at 37 C. for various times to study certain aspects of their metabolism, ’ or preincubating them with enzymes2 or radioisotopes ’ to study their behavior in certain in vitro conditions. It is obvious that interpretations of such experiments could be fallacious unless allowance is made for the effect of incubation itself. Platelet transfusions may be strikingly effective in certain clinical situa-tions4’5 and radiation injury,0 but their routine usage is precluded by a num-ber of practical problems. One of the most important of these is the lack of the practical method for storing platelets so that they can retain their viabil-ity and a platelet transfusion bank be established. Most attempts to prolong platelet viability during storage have followed technics successfully em-ployed for the erythrocyte, such as nucleotide “additives,”7 but while yield