EFFECT OF ADDITIVES TO ENHANCE BLOOD SHELF LIFE

Abstract

Blood shelf life is the main problem associated with transfusion medicine because shelf life of stored blood is only about 42-49 days in presence of suitable anticoagulant CPDA and additive solutions which contains glucose, saline, adenine and mannitol which maintains integrity of red blood cells during storage period but during storage of blood various biochemical and physical changes occurred which decreases the shelf life of blood but we know that the in vivo shelf life of erythrocytes is 120 days. In this study for enhancing blood shelf life, Carica papaya leaf extract is used as an additive. It is obtained for dry leaves by soxhlet extraction using different solvents like hexane, acetone, 60%ethanol, 40% ethanol and water, whereas the maceration process is used for fresh leaf extraction by milli-q water. The Papaya leaf has been used in this study as it contains different phyto-chemical like flavonoids, phenolic compound and sterols which exhibit different medicinal values. Some phytoconstituents present in Carica papaya leaf act as antioxidants, antibacterial and antifungal. They also exhibit reactive nitrogen scavenging activity and free radical scavenging activity. It is used in treatment of anemia as a membrane stabilizing agent for stabilizing the membrane of red blood cells. Papaya leaf extract is also used for the treatment of dengue hemorrhagic fever in which platelet count is decreased. So by using different concentration of papaya leaf extract as additive the shelf life of blood is determined.