The role of platelets in contributing to occlusive coronary artery thrombus formation remains unresolved. A large number of studies have utilized in vitro techniques to study platelet aggregation. This report describes a model of spontaneous in vivo thrombus formation which involves application of current in the left circumflex coronary artery of the dog. Changes in mean coronary blood flow velocity (50% above control) are used to predict the point at which current can be discontinued without interrupting the ongoing process of thrombus formation. Thrombus formation proceeds to total vessel occlusion within 62 +/- 18 minutes after discontinuation of current. Coronary sinus plasma serotonin concentrations are used as an in vivo index of platelet aggregation during thrombus formation. Plasma serotonin levels increased only slightly above baseline levels during initial thrombus formation. Coronary sinus serotonin levels rose markedly after cessation of current, reaching a peak just prior to total vessel occlusion. The marked increase in serotonin concentration observed in the latter stages of thrombus formation strongly suggests that platelet aggregation is a significant factor in the evolution of an occlusive coronary thrombus.

The newborn mammalian heart has less functional capacity compared with the adult, yet newborn myocardial mitochondrial respiratory activity is the same or exceeds that of adult. This study was aimed at determining the temporal changes in newborn rabbit heart mitochondrial energy-linked Ca2+ transport during early postnatal development. At birth, substrate-supported Ca2+ uptake is twice that of adult and declines toward adult rates during the first 14 days. Both NADH- and succinate-linked respiration are equivalent to adult values at birth, increase transiently during the first 7 days, and then decline toward adult. Newborn heart mitochondrial preparations exhibit the same membrane potential (delta psi) values during Ca2+ uptake and have comparable rates of Na(+)-induced Ca2+ efflux as adult. Creatine kinase (CK) activity is very low in 1- to 7-day-old newborn mitochondria and increases rapidly toward adult values after 10 days of age. The decreasing rates of Ca2+ uptake do not appear to be related to respiratory activity, membrane potential, or increased cycling of Ca2+ but rather to a direct effect on the mitochondrial Ca2+ uniporter. Preliminary studies indicate changes in mitochondrial membrane phospholipids during early development that may be related to the increasing CK activity and decreasing Ca2+ uptake and respiration. We postulate that mitochondrial membrane lipid changes in early postnatal development may be the causative factor underlying these changes in functional activity.

Amiloride, a K+-sparing diuretic, and diltiazem, a Ca2+ channel antagonist, have both been reported to inhibit Na+ transport-associated processes in different subcellular membrane systems. In this report, similar inhibitory effects of both agents are demonstrated on Na+-induced Ca2+ release from rabbit heart mitochondria and on Na+ uptake in a kidney medulla microsomal preparation. Both amiloride and diltiazem produce 50% inhibition of Na+ uptake in kidney microsomes at the same concentrations. Heart mitochondrial Na+-induced Ca2+ release was 50% inhibited by 6 microM diltiazem and 200 microM amiloride. No effects of either agent on mitochondrial respiratory activity were observed. The results suggest a specific effect of both drugs on a Na+-binding site associated with an antiport exchange process. These data also extend previous observations suggesting the use of these agents as tools to define further ion transport mechanisms in biological membranes.

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