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JC Lewis, C Johnson, P Ramsamooj and RR Hantgan
Department of Pathology, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest
University, Winston-Salem, NC 27103.
We have investigated the molecular basis of platelet:fibrin binding by
studying interactions between platelets and protofibrils, soluble two-
stranded polymers of fibrin, which are intermediates on the fibrin assembly
pathway. The specificity of these interactions was examined with
transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which clearly showed thin fibers
with lengths to 150 nm attached to the cell surface of normal, stimulated
platelets. Immunogold electron microscopy using rabbit anti- human
fibrinogen as the first stage antibody verified the identity of the
surface-bound molecules, and the immunogold distribution paralleled that
observed with the fibrin/fibrinogen molecules alone. Contacts between the
ends of the fibers and the platelets were frequently observed, but lateral
contacts were also evident. Given the diameter at the point of fibrin
contact (18.2 +/- 1.3 nm), it is possible that several glycoprotein
receptors were involved in binding each protofibril. Morphometric analyses
demonstrated that normal platelets stimulated by ADP in the absence of
exogenous fibrin(ogen) or in the presence of fibrin protofibrils and
antibodies directed against the GPIIb/IIIa complex lacked this molecular
layer on the surface. Neither protofibrils nor fibrin fibers adhered to the
surface of Glanzmann's thrombasthenic platelets, as demonstrated by TEM and
microfluorimetry. Synthetic peptides of sequence RGDS and HHLGGAKQAGDV
effectively blocked the binding of protofibrils to the surface of normal,
stimulated platelets while synthetic GHRP had no effect. These results
provide direct evidence for multiple points of attachment between fibrin
protofibrils and the glycoprotein IIb/IIIa complexes present in a
functional conformation on the surface of normal, stimulated platelets.
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