Effects of Adenosine Diphosphate, Colchicine and Temperature on Size of Human Platelets

N Laufer; N B Grover; S Ben-Sasson; H Freund

doi:10.1055/s-0038-1646801

Thrombosis and Haemostasis, Table of Contents

Thromb Haemost 1979; 41(03): 491-497
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1646801

Original Articles

Schattauer GmbH Stuttgart

Effects of Adenosine Diphosphate, Colchicine and Temperature on Size of Human Platelets

Authors

N Laufer

The Department of Experimental Medicine and Cancer Research, Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, and the Department of Surgery, Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem
N B Grover

The Department of Experimental Medicine and Cancer Research, Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, and the Department of Surgery, Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem
S Ben-Sasson

The Department of Experimental Medicine and Cancer Research, Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, and the Department of Surgery, Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem
H Freund

The Department of Experimental Medicine and Cancer Research, Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, and the Department of Surgery, Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem

Abstract

PDF Download

Summary

An improved measuring system based on the Coulter principle and developed in our laboratory is used to size human blood platelets.

The mean volume of platelets in 24 healthy subjects is found to be 8.45 μm³ with a standard deviation of 1.07 μm³; the typical size-distribution curve is unimodal and asymmetrical, with a marked skew to the right.

The effects of different reagents on platelet size (shape factor × volume) are evaluated. Platelets increase in size by 23% following suspension in isotonic, phosphate-buffered saline and incubation with 10 μM adenosine diphosphate; no change is observed when the suspending medium is autologous plasma. Cooling the platelets to 0-4° C results in a size increase of 25%; rewarming to 37° C restores them to their initial size within 2 hr. A similar increase occurs when the platelets are 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 are 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.

PDF (255 kb)

References

References
1 Behnke O. 1970; Microtubules in disc-shaped blood cells. International Review of Experimental Pathology 9: 1
2 Born GV R. 1970; Observations on the change in shape of blood platelets brought about by adenosine diphosphate. Journal of Physiology (London) 209: 487
3 Bull BS. 1968; On the distribution of red cell volumes. Blood 31: 503
4 Bull BS, Zucker MB. 1965; Changes in platelet volume produced by temperature, metabolic inhibitors, and aggregating agents. Proceedings of the Society’for Experimental Biology and Medicine 120: 296
5 Enticknap JB, Lansley TS, David T. 1970; Reduction in blood platelet size with increase in circulating number in the postoperative period. Journal of Clinical Pathology (London) 23: 140
6 Fricke H. 1924; A mathematical treatment of the electric conductivity and capacity of disperse systems. I. The electric conductivity of a suspension of homogeneous spheroids. Physical Review, 24: 575
7 Frojmovic MM, Panjwani R. 1976; Geometry of normal mammalian platelets by quantitative microscopic studies. Biophysical Journal 16: 1071
8 Gold Acre JR. 1952; The folding and unfolding of protein molecules as a basis of osmotic work. International Review of Cytology 1: 135
9 Gooding PG, Enticknap JB. 1967; Platelet volumes in patients with ischemic heart disease and in controls. Journal of Atherosclerosis Research 7: 711
10 Grover NB, Naaman J, Ben-Sasson S, Douanski F. 1969; a Electrical sizing of particles in suspensions. I. Theory. Biophysical Journal 9: 1398
11 Grover NB, Naaman J, Ben-Sasson S, Douanski F, Nadav E. 1969; b Electrical sizing of particles in suspensions. II. Experiments with rigid spheres. Biophysical Journal 9: 1415
12 Grover NB, Naaman J, Ben-Sasson S, Douanski F. 1972; Electrical sizing of particles in suspensions. III. Rigid spheroids and red blood cells. Biophysical Journal 12: 1099
13 Mannucci PM, Sharp AA. 1967; Platelet volume and shape in relation to aggregation and adhesion. British Journal of Haematology 13: 604
14 Maxwell JC. 1954. A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. 3rd. edn. Dover; New York.: vol. 1 p. 437
15 Mills DC B. 1966; The breakdown of adenosine diphosphate and of adenosine triphosphate in plasma. Biochemical Journal 98: 32 P
16 Nakeff A, Ingram M. 1970; Platelet count: volume relationship in four mammalian species. Journal of Applied Physiology 28: 530
17 Paulus JM. 1975; Platelet size in man. Blood 46: 321
18 Salzman EW, Ashford TP, Chambers DA, Neri LL, Dempser AP. 1969; Platelet volume: Effect of temperature and agents affecting platelet aggregation. American Journal of Physiology 217: 1330
19 Velick S, Gorin M. 1940; The electrical conductance of suspensions of ellipsoids and its relation to the study of avian erythrocytes. Journal of General Physiology 23: 753
20 White JG. 1968; Effects of colchicine and vinca alkaloids on human platelets. I. Influence on platelet microtubules and contractile function. American Journal of Pathology 53: 281
21 Zucker MB, Borrelli J. 1954; Reversible alteration in platelet morphology produced by anticoagulants and by cold. Blood 9: 602