Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol 38, Issue 4 739-744, Copyright © 1975 by American Physiological Society
Electronic particle size measurements of platelet aggregates formed in vitro
R. T. Solis, C. B. Wright and M. B. Gibbs
The aggregation of human platelets induced by adenosine diphosphate (ADP)
was used to evaluate electronic particle size analyzer measurements of
platelet aggregates in plasma. As platelets began to clump in plasma, the
total volume and the diameter of individual aggregates increased; after a
time dependent on experimental conditions, the diameter increased but the
total volume remained unchanged. Similar but opposite changes in size
distribution occurred during platelet deaggregation. The total volume of
aggregates formed in plasma varied (linear correlation coefficient = 0.99)
with the total volume of platelets which were available to clump and with
simultaneous changes in optical density. The diameter of the aggregates
varied with the concentration of, and time of exposure to, ADP and with the
total volume of platelets and aggregates in plasma was not different from
that of control platelets in untreated plasma, the individual platelets
aggregated without an accompanying increase in size. This study
demonstrates that platelet aggregation can be characterized by electronic
measurements of the size distribution of platelet aggregates.
