Background: Developing manual, noncommercial platelet-rich plasma (PRP) production methods in donkeys would facilitate cost-efficient field management of various diseases in a species often treated under resource-limitations.
Objectives: To evaluate two methods of PRP production validated in horses (double [DC] versus single centrifugation [SC]) in donkeys.
Animals: Six healthy adult donkeys from a research herd.
Methods: Whole blood (WB) collected into either a citrate-phosphate-dextrose-adenine blood bag or sodium citrate vacutainer tubes subsequently underwent DC or SC, respectively, to produce PRP. Three collections were performed two weeks apart per animal. Concentrations of platelets ([PLT]), leukocytes ([WBC]), and erythrocytes ([RBC]), and platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) activity were assessed in WB and PRP derived from both methods.
Results: Both protocols concentrated platelets 1.7–5.2-fold, reduced WBC 1.1–50.4-fold, and decreased RBC at least 829-fold compared to WB (P < .0001). Activity of PDGF-BB in DC-PRP and SC-PRP increased 1.2–7.0-fold in comparison to WB (P < .003). In DC-PRP, [PLT] was 3-fold (P < .0001) and PDGF-BB activity 5.8-fold (P = 0.0007) higher compared to SC-PRP. Reduction in [WBC] and [RBC] was 42-fold and 22-fold greater, respectively, in SC-PRP than DC-PRP (P < .0001), but [WBC] did not differ between WB and DC-PRP (P = .61). Double centrifugation yielded higher [PLT] and PDGF-BB activity in PRP despite greater WBC and RBC contamination than SC.
Conclusions and clinical importance: Manual, noncommercial methods of equine PRP preparation can be used to produce PRP in donkeys. Future studies are necessary to determine the in vivo efficacy of asinine PRP.
