Summary
ADP, AMP, or ATP was injected rapidly intravenously in rats. ADP injection resulted
in the f olio wing transient changes: a drop in platelet count, a rise in central
venous pressure, a fall in carotid arterial PO2, bradycardia, arrhythmia, flutter-fibrillation, and arterial hypotension. AMP and
ATP produced some of these same effects; but except for hypotension, their frequency
and severity Avere much less than those following ADP.
Prior intravenous administration of acetylsalicylic acid or pyridinolcarbamate, two
inhibitors of the second wave of ADP-induced platelet aggregation in vitro, significantly
reduced the frequency and severity of all the above ADP-induced changes except hypotension.
These observations suggest that many of the changes (except hypotension) observed
to follow ADP injection are produced by platelet aggregates which lodge transiently
in various microcirculatory beds then rapidly disaggregate and recirculate.