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Blood, 15 October 2005, Vol. 106, No. 8, pp. 2737-2743. Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on June 21, 2005June 23, 2005; DOI 10.1182/blood-2005-02-0664.
Submitted February 16, 2005
Department of Medical Biochemistry & Immunology, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom * Corresponding author; email: o-donnellvb{at}cardiff.ac.uk.
Anti-platelet therapies improve endothelial function in atherosclerosis suggesting that platelets regulate vascular NO bioactivity in vivo. Herein, washed platelets consumed NO on activation in an aspirin-sensitive manner, and aspirin enhanced platelet NO responses in vitro. To examine whether in vivo aspirin can inhibit platelet NO consumption, a double-blind placebo-controlled study was conducted. After a 2 week NSAID-free period, healthy males were randomized and administered aspirin (75mg/day oral) or identical placebo for 14 days, then crossed over to the opposite arm. Following in vivo aspirin, NO consumption by platelets was inhibited 91%. Rate of onset and recovery following aspirin withdrawal was consistent with COX-1 inhibition. In a small sub-study, NO consumption by platelets from postmenopausal females was faster in hypercholesterolemics and less sensitive to aspirin (i.e. 39% vs 76% inhibition for hyper- or normo-cholesterolemics, respectively). However, 150 mg/day aspirin increased inhibition of NO consumption by hypercholesterolemic platelets to 80%. Comparisons of platelet cyclooxygenase (COX)-1 or -2 expression and urinary 11-dehydro-thromboxane B2 excretion suggested that aspirin was less able to block platelet activation in vivo in hypercholesterolemia. In conclusion, aspirin inhibits NO consumption by platelets from healthy subjects but its beneficial effects on NO bioactivity may be compromised in some hypercholesterolemic patients.
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