Current cell disruption and fractionation techniques are time consuming and unsuitable for metabolic studies. We have developed a rapid method for platelets in which separation of cytosol and particle fraction is obtained within 50 s. Isolated platelet suspensions were incubated with low concentrations of digitonin followed by separation of soluble and particle fraction by centrifugation through a phthalate layer. Cell disruption was 90.1+/-4.2% (mean+/-SD, n=18; lactate dehydrogenase leakage). Contamination of granules: acid hydrolase vesicles 16.2+/-3.6% (n=18, beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase), dense granules 7--9% (n=3, 14C-serotonin), mitochondrial matrix 0.6+/-0.1% (n=18, glutamate dehydrogenase). Low concentrations of digitonin did not affect sialic acid content, nucleoside diphosphate kinase and phosphodiesterase activity in isolated membranes. The method showed that most enzymes of glycolysis and hexose monophosphate shunt were localized in the cytosol except for hexokinase (96% particle bound), phosphoglucose isomerase (10% bound) and glutathion reductase (26% bound). About half the total ATP+ADP and most glycolytic intermediates were found partly particle bound, especially fructose 1,6-diphosphate (40% bound). The data suggest that in platelets glycolysis occurs in different cell compartments.

SummaryThe equilibrium binding of 14C-labeled ADP to intact washed human blood platelets and to platelet membranes was investigated. With both intact platelets and platelet membranes a similar concentration dependence curve was found. It consisted of a curvilinear part below 20 pM and a rectilinear part above this concentration. At high ADP concentrations, the rectilinear part appeared to be saturable. Because of this, two classes of saturable ADP binding sites were proposed. ADP was partly converted to ATP and AMP with intact platelets while this conversion was virtually absent in isolated platelet membranes. ADP was bound to platelet membranes with the same type of curves found for intact platelets.The ADP binding to the high affinity system, which was stimulated by calcium ions, was nearly independent of temperature and had a pH optimum at 7.8.A number of agents were investigated for inhibiting properties. Of the sulfhydryl reagents only p-chloromercuribenzene sulfonate inhibited both high and low affinity binding systems while iodoacetamide and N-ethylmaleimide were without effect. Compounds acting via cyclic AMP on platelet aggregation, such as adenosine and cyclic AMP itself, had no influence on binding. Some nucleosidediphosphates and nucleotide analogs at a concentration of 100 gM had no, or only a slight, effect on high affinity ADP binding. For some other nucleotides inhibitor constants were determined for both platelet ADP aggregation The ATP formation found with intact platelets could be attributed to a nucleosidediphosphate kinase. It was investigated in some detail. The enzyme was magnesium dependent, had a Ql0 value of 1.41, a pH optimum at 8.0, was competitively inhibited by AMP and reacted via a ping pong mechanism.All findings described in this paper indicate that platelets as well as platelet membranes bind ADP with the same characteristics and they suggest that the high affinity binding of ADP is involved in platelet aggregation induced by ADP. The results on nucleosidediphosphate kinase did not permit a firm conclusion about the role of the enzyme in induction of platelet aggregation by ADP.

Administration of Ticlopidine to human volunteers resulted in a prolonged bleeding time and decreased or absent aggregation of platelets with collagen and epinephrine. Adenosine diphosphate (ADP) induced platelet aggregation was initiated by a normal shape change, but the rate of the first wave of aggregation had decreased. The second wave of aggregation was absent. ADP-binding to platelets of volunteers, consisted of two classes of binding sites:one with.high affinity and one with low affinity, giving a curvilinear and a linear part in a concentration dependency curve. After Ticlopidine, the low affinity part of the curve had disappeared. Evidence will be presented that this is a specific Ticlopidine effect.

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SummaryVarious tests were evaluated for their capacity to differentiate between platelet suspensions with different degrees of cell damage. Those suspensions were prepared by simultaneous isolation of platelets from the same platelet-rich plasma (PRP) using the following procedures:1. centrifugation at 4°C with EDTA2. gel filtration in Tangen’s buffer3. gel filtration in Ca2+-free Tyrode’s solution4. gel filtration in Ca2+-free Tyrode followed by dehydration against polyethylene glycol 20,000 and5. albumin density gradient centrifugation.In these suspensions and in the original PRP the following parameters were studied: 1. morphology; 2. aggregability upon ADP addition; 3. platelet factor 3 availability; 4. uptake of 14C-serotonin and 3H-adenine; 5. metabolism of 3H-adenine and adenylate energy charge; 6. endogenous total ATP, ADP and serotonin and 7. lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity.Quantitation of pseudopod formation in the light or electron microscope and log dose response studies for ADP-induced aggregation proved to be the most sensitive and reproducible of the tests studied. Additional information could be obtained from measurement of the 3H-label in the ATP and hypoxanthine-inosine fractions and calculation of the adenylate energy charge. Determination of platelet factor 3 availability or uptake studies of 14C-serotonin and 3H-adenine were less suitable for discriminating between cell suspensions. Data for total ATP and serotonin concentrations and LDH activity differed between the cell suspensions but instead of detecting various degrees of cell damage they reflected alterations in platelet population caused by the isolation procedures.