Platelet-rich plasma: evaluation of centrifugation effect on platelet concentration and comparison of protocols

Abstract

The most different areas of health sciences seek to find new biotechnologies, in order to use them in tissue bioengineering. In this context, is inserted the platelet-rich plasma, who consists in high platelet concentration in a small volume of plasma, which is a potential method to provide a complex of growth factors that leads to repair of different tissues in medicine regenerative. The aim of this study was to assess the centrifugation effect (spin x time) on the platelet concentration, through comparison of three different protocols for producing platelet-rich plasma. Whole blood was drawn into tubes containing acid citrate dextrose as anticoagulant from ten healthy volunteers. The blood was divided into four aliquots for producing platelet-rich plasma by three different protocols and baseline platelet counts. All the protocols used were effective to concentrate platelets at least three times more than baseline values, however there was no statistically significant difference in the results of platelet concentration between the protocols for analysis of variance (p < 0,445). Regression analysis performed was able to predict the relationships between variables with significant positive correlation between the increases in the number of platelets. Protocols that used longer centrifugation time had a positive correlation between the number of baseline platelets count and the increases in platelets count after obtaining PRP.