Studying the Effect of Carica papaya Leaf Extract on the Shelf Life of Platelets

Transfusion of blood is important in medical regimen, so for a smooth process a decent inventory should be maintained. Scientific community has given a huge attention towards storage of blood and its components but still there is scope for further research. Efforts have been made to improve the quality of platelets under storage conditions. Goal is to maintain the quality of platelets from the point of donation to the point of transfusion - to suspend the aging process. Recent works have proved that platelets can be maintained in storage condition for 5-7 days maintaining their quality, as measured by post transfusion recovery and survival. However, additional measures are needed to validate the development of technologies that may further reduce the aging of stored platelets, or enhance their hemostatic properties. Studies have suggested that Carica papaya leaf extract have the potential to increase platelet count. Knowing the medicinal value of Carica papaya and its association with diseases like dengue made it the best neutraceutical for the purpose. Promising components were obtained in the GC-MS analysis of Carica papaya leaf extracted in different solvent system namely, Hexane, Acetone, Ethanol and Water, which were further used in different concentrations in blood and platelet to access the quality of cells under storage condition. A few components such as vitamins, tannins, flavonoids, alkaloids, antifungal agents, anti-bacterial, oleic acid etc were identified, which could help in blood and platelet for quality improvement. The purpose of this work is to establish a relationship among the in-vitro damages in platelet during storage, the biochemistry of the cell heading to such damage and effect of Carica papaya leaf extract in controlling these damages. Blood Sample was collected from donors and stored at 4 degree C under aseptic condition for a few hours. Platelets were isolated and Papaya leaves extracts were added in different concentrations (Hexane, Acetone, 60 % Ethanol, 40 % Ethanol, Water in 3 %, 6 %, 9 % concentration). Further various parameters such as Morphology, Platelet functional assay, pH, cell viability, Bacterial contamination, Glucose concentration were studied on Day 0, Day 4 and Day 7. The sterility test was carried out on the fifth day of storage. In stored Platelet, platelet storage lesions such as pH, glucose, platelet functional assay i. e. platelet factor 3 test determining the clotting factor time, cell viability along with bacterial contamination were overcome in papaya leaf extract with 9 % Hexane solvent. Since the biggest problem faced by blood banks in storage of platelets is microbial growth because of the storage temperature (which is 22 24 C) we can say Hexane at higher concentration (9 % in comparison to 3 % and 6 %) has maximum antimicrobial activity. It was observed that when 9 % hexane extract was added to media plates no contamination was seen, thus the metabolites present in this extract can be considered for further analysis. The activity shown by the extract could be possibly due to tannis for its antimicrobial activity along with alkaloids and flavonoids. Leaf extract in solvent system hexane showed better results. Platelet storage lesions in hexane were controlled as compared to control and other extracts. Microbial contamination was absolutely zero. Discs prepared from these stored platelets showed no microbial growth. No growth in liquid broth was confirmed by spectrophotometer.