Practical Considerations of Dissolved Oxygen Levels for Platelet Function under Hypoxia.

Authors

Branden Kusanto
Andrew Gordon
Leigh Naylor-Adamson
Lloyd Atkinson
Charlie Coupland
Zoe Booth
Yusra Ahmed
Isabel M Pires
Graeme J Stasiuk
Roger Sturmey
Simon D J Calaminus
Mònica Arman

Publication Date

12-8-2021

Journal

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Abstract

Investigating human platelet function in low-oxygen environments is important in multiple settings, including hypobaric hypoxia (e.g., high altitude), sea level hypoxia-related disease, and thrombus stability. These studies often involve drawing blood from which platelets are isolated and analysed at atmospheric conditions or re-exposed to low oxygen levels in hypoxia chambers before testing. However, it remains unknown how the in vitro handling of the samples itself changes their dissolved oxygen concentration, which might affect platelet function and experimental results. Here, we prepared healthy donor platelet-rich plasma and washed platelet (WP) suspensions and exposed them to 2% oxygen. We found that the use of hypoxia pre-equilibrated tubes, higher platelet concentrations (>2 × 108/mL versus 2 × 107/mL), smaller volumes (600 µL versus 3 mL), and presence of plasma reduced the time for samples to reach 2% oxygen. Notably, oxygen levels decreased below 2% in most suspensions, but also in WP maintained at atmospheric 21% oxygen. Additionally, platelet spreading on fibrinogen was decreased when using hypoxic fibrinogen-coated culture plates regardless of the oxygen percentage (2% or 21%) in which platelet incubation took place. Thus, sample handling and experimental conditions should be carefully monitored in platelet-hypoxia studies as they might compromise results interpretation and comparison across studies.

Keywords

platelet, platelet rich plasma, whole blood, hypoxia, dissolved oxygen concentration, in vitro assay

Comments

PMID: 34948023