Fibrinogen as a Part of Platelet Structure

Abstract

PLATELETS have been shown to contain a protein similar to, or identical with, fibrinogen^1–4. Two groups of investigators have debated, whether fibrinogen would be present in the interior structure⁵ or on the surface¹ of platelets, Salmon and Bounameaux^5,6 demonstrated the presence of fibrinogen in bovine platelets after 7 washings with normal saline solutions, by using gel-diffusion techniques. They concluded that fibrinogen would be in the interior structure of the platelets. Seligmann et al.¹ and Schmid et al.⁷, however, reached the conclusion that fibrinogen would be physically bound to the platelets on the surface, as the trypsin-treated platelets suspensions did not react with thrombin.