Journal of Cytology & Histology

A Simple Method to Quantify Glycogen from Human Platelets

Abstract

Débora Santos Rocha, Samir Khal de Souza, Tor Gunnar Hugo Onsten, Roselis Silveira Martins da Silva and Marcos Emílio Frizzo

Objective: The aim of our study was to establish a protocol to quantify the glycogen from human platelets. Methods: The total glycogen was determined in the platelet concentrate (PC) obtained from healthy male volunteers. The assay comprised the following steps: (1) cell lysing and glycogen extraction, (2) precipitation of glycogen and its washing, (3) conversion of glycogen to free glucose, (4) neutralization, and (5) detection of free glucose. Results: In our analysis, the measured glycogen content in the PC was 0.263 ± 0.101 μg/106 platelets (mean ± SD, n=16). Discussion: Despite the potential importance of glycogen determination in the platelets, a biochemical method to quantify this polymer in these cells is not available at the moment. Our protocol proved to be a simple method to measure these reserves from a blood sample. We expect to contribute to future studies of platelet metabolism, especially regarding glycogen function in these cells.