Summary
Thrombin-induced nucleotide disappearance from rabbit platelets labelled with 32P under oxidative and glycolytic conditions was observed. After adding thrombin to
a platelet suspension previously incubated with 32P in the presence of succinate or of glucose + KCN, radioactive ATP formed under the
oxidative condition disappeared rapidly from cells and medium, while that formed under
the glycolytic condition remained within aggregates. Since no significant difference
was observed between the amounts of ATP generated during thrombin-induced aggregation
in both systems, the preservation of radioactive ATP in aggregates under glycolytic
conditions cannot be attributed to an increase in ATP generation through glycolysis
during aggregation. Rather, it is conceivable that consumption of newly synthesized
ATP is markedly stimulated under oxidative conditions. Sonic disruption of labelled
platelets followed by subcellular fractionation revealed that ATP generated in both
the oxidative and glycolytic systems was found in the soluble fraction of the cells.
The possible presence of sub compartments in “the rapidly labelled pool” of ATP in
the soluble fraction is discussed.