Optical assay method for stored human platelets

• US 4,830,510 A
• Filed: 10/14/1986
• Issued: 05/16/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/1983
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Brian J. Bellhouse
• Original Assignee: Brian J. Bellhouse
• Inventors: Bellhouse, Brian J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hornsby, Harvey C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Haugland, Scott J.
• Application Number:
  US06/918,322
• Time in Patent Office: 945 Days
• Field of Search: 366/129, 366/130, 366/137, 366/219, 366/348, 366/349, 604/408, 604/410, 604/416, 604/903, 604/403, 206/219, 206/221
• US Class Current: 366/219
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 9/08 specially adapted for sports gear vehicles specially adapted for carrying aeroplanes, for carrying boats B60P
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 73/0005 using chains, cables or the like chain- or cable-locks of the padlock type E05B67/003; lockable clothing hangers or hanger racks E05B69/006
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 73/007 for boats, surfboards or parts or accessories thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2015/0222 from dynamic light scattering, e.g. photon correlation spectroscopy

Abstract

The viability of a pack of stored blood platelets is monitored by gripping the pack between two plates (6) and (7) which are closed to pinch together the walls of the bag (10) along an L-shaped seal (14), leaving a channel (17), squeezing a part (15) of the bag by means of a reciprocating plunger (19), so that the platelets continually flow to and fro between the part (15) and the part (16), through the channel (17), and passing a beam of light from an LED (27) through the channel (17), to a photoresistor (29). The AC signal from the photoresistor corresponds to the fluctuations in the intensity of the light passing through the channel (17) and the amplitude of this signal is representative of the viability, and hence the clinical acceptability, of the platelets.

Claims

1. A method of storing a bag of blood platelets while continuously agitating said bag to prolong the life of said platelets, said method comprising supporting said bag with two major opposed walls thereof generally vertical;

pinching together said walls to form a substantially liquid-tight barrier to thereby divide the interior of said bag into two parts in opposite sides of said bag, said bag parts being connected by a channel adjacent to the bottom of said bag;

periodically squeezing a single one of said bag parts to cause said platelets to flow in one direction through said channel, and allowing intervening reverse flow through said channel when said squeezing is released, said reverse flow being provided solely by differential hydrostatic pressure across said channel resulting from the displacement of said platelets through said channel by said squeezing.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said periodic squeezing occurs at a frequency of about 2Hz.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said bag is supported between two plates and said periodic squeezing is provided by a presser which reciprocates to and fro through a window in one of said plates and squeezes said one bag part against the other of said plates, said presser working through a predetermined stroke.