Intravenous immunoglobulin inhibits anti-glycoprotein IIb-induced platelet apoptosis in a murine model of immune thrombocytopenia.

We have previously shown that injection of anti-glycoprotein (GP) IIb induces murine immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and that intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) ameliorates ITP. We hypothesise that murine ITP may be associated with platelet apoptosis, which is upregulated by anti-GPIIb and downregulated by IVIg. The current study demonstrated that anti-GPIIb injection induced three critical apoptosis manifestations in platelets: (i) mitochondrial inner transmembrane potential (delta psi m) depolarisation; (ii) caspase-3 activation; and (iii) phosphatidylserine (PS) exposure.