Study examines 14-day cold storage for canine platelet units

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A new study in the Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care suggests canine platelet concentrate may remain viable for up to 14 days when stored cold at 4°C, though platelet function declines in ways that depend on the activating stimulus used to test it. Researchers Kate S. Farrell, Steven E. Epstein, Nghi Nguyen, and Ronald H. L. Li evaluated six canine platelet concentrate units stored without agitation and sampled through Day 14. Platelet counts stayed stable, pH remained above 7.1, and viability did not significantly change over time, but aggregation responses were weak with ADP and collagen, stronger with thrombin through Day 12, and one unit had bacterial growth on Day 14. The authors say the findings support further investigation of cold storage as a way to extend canine platelet concentrate shelf life. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the study adds to a practical transfusion-medicine question: whether cold-stored platelets could improve inventory flexibility compared with the short shelf life associated with traditional room-temperature storage. Prior canine work has shown meaningful storage lesions even over five days under standard storage conditions, including falling pH, rising lactate, and declining quality markers, while older literature and more recent additive-solution research have pointed to cold storage as a possible way to preserve usable product longer. This new paper doesn't establish clinical efficacy after transfusion, but it does suggest 14-day cold storage may be feasible enough to justify in vivo studies and blood-bank protocol discussions. (link.springer.com)

What to watch: The next key step is whether follow-up in vivo studies show that cold-stored canine platelets still deliver clinically meaningful hemostatic benefit, especially beyond the first week of storage. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)