Influence of Catecholamines on Nucleotide-induced Platelet Aggregation

Abstract

BECAUSE platelet aggregation is probably important in the pathogenesis of thrombosis, interest in this phenomenon is increasing. Hellem¹ noted that an acidic, dialysable and heat-stable extract of red cells was able to produce marked platelet aggregation in citrated or oxalated plasma. This red-cell factor was afterwards identified as adenosine diphosphate (ADP) by Gaarder et al.², who found it to be the most potent of twenty-two nucleotides tested. Other compounds have since been shown to induce platelet aggregation, and these include adenosine triphosphate (ATP)^3,4, and certain catecholamines, namely adrenaline^5,6 and noradrenaline^4,7. In this communication the effects of the three catecholamines, adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine, on platelet aggregation induced in vitro by nucleotides are described and discussed.