Young steady-state rabbit platelets do not have an enhanced capacity to expose procoagulant phosphatidylserine.

Platelets are recognized to be physiologically and functionally heterogeneous. An example of the diversity in reactivity is the formation of a distinct subpopulation of procoagulant phosphatidylserine (PS)-exposing platelets upon activation. Platelet age has been proposed as a determinant of platelet function, and it has been reported that young platelets are more reactive in exposing PS; using the same methodology of thiazole orange (TO) staining to distinguish young and old platelets, the percentages of procoagulant platelets produced by thrombin plus collagen activation of platelets from healthy controls were examined by flow cytometry.

Calpain inhibition by calpeptin does not prevent APLT activity reduction in PS-exposing platelets, but calpeptin has independent pro-apoptotic effects.

Exposure of procoagulant phosphatidylserine (PS) on the surface of activated platelets is not readily reversible and this may propagate thrombosis. Persistence of PS exposure may be attributed, at least in part, to a continued reduction of the activity of aminophospholipid translocase (APLT), that transports PS from the outer to the inner membrane leaflet. We investigated whether calpain is involved in the inhibition of APLT activity.

Persistence of procoagulant surface expression on activated human platelets: involvement of apoptosis and aminophospholipid translocase activity.

Background: Activated platelets express a procoagulant surface when the asymmetric distribution of membrane phospholipids is scrambled, leading to phosphatidylserine (PS) exposure. PS expression, associated with apoptosis in nucleated cells, would be expected to be reversed by aminophospholipid translocase (APLT) activity.

Objective: To determine whether the procoagulant surface of activated platelets persists after it forms; to examine whether PS expression on platelets is associated with loss of mitochondrial inner membrane potential (DeltaPsi(m)), a hallmark of apoptosis; and to investigate the role of APLT in persistence of PS expression.