The effect of rapid cooling to 20-24 °C of whole blood immediately after collection, using ‘cooling units’
with butane-1,4-diol and prolonged storage up to 24 h at ambient temperature was investigated in the whole blood
and the subsequently prepared plasma, buffy coat and buffy-coat-poor red cell concentrate (BC-poor RCC) in
saline-adenine-glucose-mannitol (SAGM) solution. Factor VIII:C content of the plasma (n=10), after 24 h storage
was 80 ± 3% of the initial value. In routine procedures factor VIII:C content in the plasma (n= 129 pools of 20 donor
units plasma) was 0.77 ±0.078 IU/ml, after storage of the whole blood for 16-20 h. In whole blood (n=10), the
2,3-diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG) content of the red cells decreased from 4.36 ±0.55 to 1.47 ±0.6 pmol/ml red cells
after 24 h storage at 20-24°C. After storage of the BC-poor RCC (n=10) at 2-6°C for 1 week, the 2,3-DPG had
dropped to 0.76 ±0.46 pmol/ml red cells. During the first 24 h of storage of whole blood, the adenine triphosphate
(ATP) levels of the red cells remained stable. A mean increase of 20% of the initial value was observed after addition
of SAG M solution. In the BC-poor RCC the ATP slowly decreased to 81 ± 5% after 5 weeks and to 68 ± 6.6% of the
initial value after 6 weeks storage. In citrate-phosphate-dextrose blood the yield of platelets in the buffy coat was
found to be 84±6% (mean ± SD) of the original value when whole blood (n= 12) was stored for 16-20 h at 20-24°C,
as compared to 76 ± 18%, when buffy coats were prepared within 3 h after collection of whole blood without rapid
cooling (n= 12). Rapid cooling of whole blood to 20-24°C immediately after collection and subsequent storage of the
whole blood up to 24 h contributes to the quality and standardization of the subsequently prepared blood components
and will diminish processing at irregular hours.