Final answer:
Hetastarch preparations can have their duration prolonged through factors such as long-term storage stability, short-term temperature stability, post-preparative stability, and freeze-thaw cycle resilience. The chemical modifications to the starch structure significantly influence these characteristics.
Step-by-step explanation:
Regarding hydroxyethyl starch (hetastarch): Characteristics that may prolong its duration in different preparations include factors like long-term storage, short-term temperature stability post-preparative stability, and the product's resilience to freeze-thaw cycles. Hydroxyethyl starch (HES) is a synthetic colloid used as a plasma volume expander. The modifications made to the starch molecule, such as its degree of substitution and the molecular weight of the polymer can significantly affect these characteristics and thus extend or shorten its duration of action when used in clinical settings or stored for medical use.
Dextrins, which are glucose polysaccharides that result from the hydrolysis of starch, exemplify how modification of a polymer's structure can impact its properties, thus affecting its digestion adhesiveness, or functionality as seen in its use for clothing starch, pharmaceutical binders and infant foods. Similarly the chemical modifications of hetastarch can be tailored to achieve desired pharmacokinetic profiles that determine its duration of effect and stability under various conditions.