Effects of adenosine diphosphate, colchicine and temperature on size of human platelets

N. Laufer, N. B. Grover, S. Ben-Sasson, H. Freund

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27 Scopus citations

Abstract

An improved measuring system based on the Coulter principle and developed in our laboratory was used to determine the size of human blood platelets. The mean volume of platelets in 24 healthy subjects was 8.45 μm3 with a standard deviation of 1.07 μm3; the typical size-distribution curve was unimodal and asymmetrical, with a marked skew to the right. The effects of different reagents on platelet size (shape factor x volume) were evaluated. Platelets increased in size by 23% following suspension in isotonic, phosphate-buffered saline and incubation with 10 μM adenosine diphosphate; no change was observed when the suspending medium was autologous plasma. Cooling the platelets to 0-4°C resulted in a size increase of 25%; rewarming to 37°C restored them to their initial size within 2 hr. A similar increase occurred when the platelets were incubated with 1-10 mM colchicine. It is proposed that these reagents, which are known to produce changes in the orientation of the marginal bundle of microtubules, cause platelets to undergo disc-sphere transformations. Calculations have been made which show that such transformations increase platelet size by 27% as measured electrically, and we conclude that the so-called volume changes reported in the literature reflect shape changes only and that no true volume increase actually takes place.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)491-497
Number of pages7
JournalThrombosis and Haemostasis
Volume41
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1979

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