Effective prevention of pseudothrombocytopenia in feline blood samples with the XXXX analogue Iloprost.

@entity1423 @entity4770 @entity1503 @entity5015 @entity468 @entity1098
BACKGROUND: In vitro @entity1423 in feline blood samples is a well-known phenomenon in veterinary clinical laboratories resulting in high numbers of pseudothrombocytopenia. Several attempts have been made to prevent or dissolve platelet aggregates in feline blood samples and to increase the @entity1423 . @entity4770 ( @entity4770 ) is the most powerful endogenous inhibitor of @entity1423 but unstable. Iloprost is a stable @entity4770 analogue. The aims of the present study were (1) to evaluate the anti-aggregatory effect of Iloprost on feline platelet counts and to determine a useful concentration to inhibit @entity1423 in @entity1098 samples from clinically healthy @entity468 , (2) to investigate the effect of @entity1503 , and (3) to determine stability of Iloprost in K3- @entity1098 tubes for up to 16 weeks. From 20 clinically healthy @entity468 blood was drawn from the jugular vein and immediately distributed in a 1.3 ml K3- @entity1098 tube, and two 1.3 ml K3- @entity1098 tubes containing 20 ng and 200 ng Iloprost, respectively. A complete blood cell count was performed on the Sysmex XT-2000iV and the Mythic 18 on eight consecutive time points after collection. Blood smears were evaluated for the presence of PLT aggregates. RESULTS: In the absence of Iloprost, pseudothrombocytopenia was observed in 50% of the investigated samples that led to significantly decreased optical PLT counts by a mean of 105 x10(3)/ l, which could be prevented by the addition of 1  L (20 ng) Iloprost leading to an increase in PLT counts by a mean of 108 x10(3)/ l. CONCLUSION: This is the first study showing an anti-aggregatory effect of the @entity4770 -analogue Iloprost in feline @entity1098 blood. In all clinically healthy @entity468 investigated, pseudothrombocytopenia was prevented by adding Iloprost to @entity1098 tubes prior to blood collection. Furthermore, Iloprost was very useful in preventing falsely increased WBC counts in samples with platelet aggregates analyzed on impedance-based hematological instruments. Iloprost is preferable to @entity4770 or @entity5015 due to its stability and easy and safe handling properties. Cytological evaluations of blood smears as well as other hematological parameters were not influenced to a clinically significant degree by the presence of Iloprost.
