INTRODUCTION:

We investigated the effect of freezing, freeze-drying and the duration of frozen storage of blood plasma on fibrin network characteristics of clots subsequently produced.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Fibrin network characteristics of clots made from freeze-dried and frozen plasma were compared to those made from fresh plasma. Freeze-dried pooled plasma was reconstituted and frozen each month for 4 months to describe the differences in fibrin networks that occur as a result of storage of the plasma over this period.

RESULTS:

Compared to freezing, freeze-drying of plasma had fewer undesirable effects on the fibrin network characteristics measured. Only the permeability of the clots from freeze-dried plasma was significantly less compared to the values of clots from the fresh plasma (p=0.005). Fibrinogen activity and mass-length ratio, compaction and fibrin content of the clots made from frozen plasma were, however, all significantly affected by freezing. Mass-length ratio and compaction showed a linear decrease and fibrin content a linear increase over a 4-month frozen storage period, thereby indicating that these variables were probably not stable. Large variation found in the data from each month indicates that there may be other factors, apart from storage time, that have a larger influence on these fibrin network characteristics, than frozen storage of plasma for 4 months. Storage of plasma in the freeze-dried form for 4 months resulted in a significant increase in fibrinogen (p=0.0004) but significant decrease in fibrin content (p=0.0002).

CONCLUSIONS:

Although the process of freeze-drying had fewer undesirable effects on the measured fibrin network characteristics compared to freezing, storage in both forms resulted in altered activity upon rehydration and thawing.