Further studies on the effect of adenine in blood preservation

Clinical and experimental studies on the effect of adenine supplementation to ACD blood are reported. The frequency and type of transfusion reactions in 5,595 transfusions of ACD-adenine blood (storage time 0–35 days) was the same as in 4,519 transfusions of ACD blood (storage time 0–21 days). There was no change in the plasma haptoglobin level in 10 recipients during and after transfusion of 29 to 35 day old ACD-adenine blood. The relation between posttransfusion viability, in vitro hemolysis, erythrocyte ATP content and duration of storage were studied. Supplementation with adenine increased the posttransfusion viability and the erythrocyte ATP content; these effects were noticeable after two weeks of storage. A negative correlation was found with respect to posttransfusion viability and the concentration of total lipids in the medium. A significant covariation between the concentrations of the three nucleotides ATP, ADP and AMP was found. This indicates that erythrocyte adenylate kinase dominates in the regulation of the relative concentrations of these nucleotides.