Effects of Perfluorocarbons on Rat Thrombocytes

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Oxygen deprivation due to narrowing of blood vessels causes most of the damage in TBI. Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) are smaller than erythrocytes but as effective as hemoglobin at transporting oxygen, and thus can potentially serve to treat TBI be maximizing oxygen transportation when there is minimal blood flow. One of the side effects of PFC used in clinical trials was lower circulating thrombocytes count. We hypothesize that rats treated with PFCs will have thrombocytopenia. The thrombocytes could be sequestered by the reticular endothelial system (e.g. liver, spleen). This experiment serves to evaluate the sequestration of thrombocytes in liver and spleen. Rats either in the control group or treated with PFCs were perfused. The organs were embedded in paraffin and cross-sectioned by microtome. The cross-sections for light microscopy were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E). The sections for fluorescent miscroscopy were stained with beta actin and glycoprotein V gpv and ftc. Thrombocytes were observed in the H&E. Confirmation with anti-thrombocyte specific anti-bodies is currently underway to further verify the nature of the thrombocytopenia.