Inhibitory effects of various anticoagulants on the infectivity of human cytomegalovirus

Abstract

We assessed the extent to which the anticoagulants heparin, sodium citrate, Alsever's solution and ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) (at standard low concentration or at high concentration as attained when only a small blood volume was collected into anticoagulant) inhibited the infectivity of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). All four anticoagulants had minimal effects on cell-associated virus, but heparin at either low or high concentration and EDTA at high concentration reduced the titre of cell-free virus by 10–100 fold. The large inhibitory effects of heparin and EDTA on cell-free virus indicated that sodium citrate or Alsever's solution were preferable as anticoagulants when blood was collected for assay of CMV viraemia by virus isolation.