Three Manual Noncommercial Methods to Prepare Equine Platelet-Rich Plasma.
Authors: Segabinazzi Lorenzo G T M, Podico Giorgia, Rosser Michael F, Nanjappa Som G, Alvarenga Marco A, Canisso Igor F
Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Summary
# Editorial Summary: Manual Methods for Equine PRP Preparation As platelet-rich plasma (PRP) becomes increasingly integrated into equine practice, the absence of standardised, low-cost preparation protocols remains problematic. Segabinazzi and colleagues compared three manual methods using blood from 18 mares: collection in a transfusion bag with double centrifugation (method 1), blood tubes with single centrifugation (method 2), and gravitational sedimentation in a syringe over 4 hours (method 3). All three approaches successfully concentrated platelets between 1.8- and 5.6-fold relative to whole blood, though method 1 achieved significantly higher platelet yields whilst method 3 showed substantially greater white blood cell contamination and reduced platelet viability following 24-hour refrigeration at 5°C; initial platelet viability remained comparable across all methods immediately post-processing. Critically, agglutination increased significantly over time in every preparation, and whilst platelet counts remained stable during cold storage, the viability reduction observed with method 3 suggests that choice of preparation technique may influence clinical outcomes—a gap the authors acknowledge requires further investigation before practitioners can confidently select between these approaches based on efficacy rather than convenience alone.
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Practical Takeaways
- •If using manual PRP preparation methods, blood transfusion bags with double centrifugation (method 1) yield superior platelet concentrations compared to other noncommercial approaches
- •Simple gravity sedimentation in a syringe (method 3) should be avoided due to inferior platelet yields and higher white blood cell contamination that may compromise clinical efficacy
- •Avoid cooling PRP longer than 6 hours, particularly if prepared by method 3, as viability decreases and platelet clumping increases—prepare fresh or use immediately for best results
Key Findings
- •Method 1 (blood transfusion bag with double centrifugation) produced the highest platelet concentration, while method 3 (syringe gravity sedimentation) produced the lowest platelet concentration (p < 0.05)
- •Method 3 had significantly greater white blood cell contamination compared to methods 1 and 2 (p < 0.001)
- •All three methods achieved 1.8- to 5.6-fold platelet concentration increases compared to whole blood without compromising initial platelet viability
- •Cooling PRP for 24 hours at 5°C reduced platelet viability in method 3 (p = 0.04) and increased platelet agglutination in all methods over time (p < 0.001)