PMID: 6413629Oct 1, 1983Paper

Decreased platelet adhesion on vessel segments in von Willebrand's disease: a defect in initial platelet attachment

The Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine
V TurittoH R Baumgartner

Abstract

The adhesion of platelets to subendothelium exposed to flowing blood involves two distinct morphological stages: (1) platelet contact (C), the initial attachment of unspread, discoid platelets to the subendothelium, and (2) spread platelets (S), the attachment that results as contact platelets spread on the surface and become more firmly bound to it. A defect in either initial platelet attachment or platelet spreading can result in reduced levels of platelet adhesion (C + S). The combined observation of decreased platelet adhesion (C + S) and increased platelet contact (C) has been previously utilized to conclude that a defect exists in the ability of platelets to spread on subendothelium in von Willebrand's disease. In this present investigation, we demonstrate, by modeling the contact and spreading stages of platelet adhesion as a classic set of reactions in series, that the combination of reduced adhesion (C + S) and increased contact (C) is inconclusive with regard to the nature of the adhesion defect in von Willebrand's disease. Decreased adhesion (C + S) coupled with increased platelet contact (C) can result from either decreased rates of initial attachment or decreased rates of spreading. In fact, given the complexity of...Continue Reading

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