Increased platelet aggregation and intracellular calcium in hypertensive patients: effects of cyclo-oxygenase blockade.

Increased platelet aggregation induced by ADP and arachidonic acid was observed in 12 patients with essential hypertension compared with 12 control subjects, but not after pretreatment with acetylsalicylic acid. The increase in intracellular calcium induced by ADP was also greater in the hypertensive patients, and again this difference disappeared after cyclo-oxygenase blockade. Urinary excretion of 2,3-dinor-thromboxane B2, the main metabolite of platelet thromboxane A2, was slightly, but not significantly increased in the hypertensive patients.

Platelet intracellular free Ca2+ after incubation with plasma from hypertensive patients.

Variations in intracellular free calcium were measured in platelets from normal donors, incubated with plasma from hypertensive patients and from control subjects to test the hypothesis that a circulating factor might induce an increase in calcium concentration. Before incubation, plasma was heat-inactivated or ultrafiltered. Incubation both with heat-inactivated and ultrafiltered plasma failed to result in any significant modifications in intracellular free calcium.

Intracellular free Ca2+ in platelets of essential hypertensive patients. Lack of correlation with clinical and laboratory data.

Platelet intracellular free Ca2+, [Ca2+]i, was found to be higher in 64 hypertensive patients than in 65 age- and sex-matched normotensive controls (142.7 +/- 3.8 nmol/l vs 126.

Increased basal and thrombin-induced free calcium in platelets of essential hypertensive patients.

Intracellular free calcium, [Ca2+]i, was studied in platelets of essential hypertensive subjects and normotensive controls under basal conditions and after stimulation with epinephrine, norepinephrine, angiotensin II, ouabain, and thrombin, using the fluorescent calcium indicator quin 2. Basal [Ca2+]i was significantly higher in hypertensive subjects (n = 32) than in normotensive controls (n = 30; 167.4 +/- 5.