Cardiovascular research
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Cardiovascular research · May 1998
Disparate effects of adhesion and degranulation of platelets on myocardial and coronary function in postischaemic hearts.
Beside the major effect of acute thrombus formation, little is known about the interaction of platelets with the coronary endothelium in an ischaemia-reperfusion situation. The present study was designed to investigate, separately, the consequences of platelet adhesion and degranulation during myocardial reperfusion. ⋯ Platelet adhesion to the coronary endothelium in a situation of myocardial ischaemia impairs cardiac recovery, whereas constituents released by platelets may have beneficial effects on the integrity of the coronary endothelium. In particular, fibrinogen seems to contribute to the permeability reducing effect, possibly by interaction with endothelial receptors recognising the RGD sequence.