Thromboxane (TX) synthesis of washed human platelets pretreated with high concentrations of thrombin (0.5-2.0 U/ml) for 20 sec is significantly reduced upon further thrombin stimulation. Compared to controls (tyrode-pretreated platelets), thrombin-preactivated platelets recover normal TX synthesis following exposure to exogenous arachidonic acid (AA) indicating that short-time thrombin treatment does not inactivate platelet cyclooxygenase or TX synthetase (Blood 63: 858, 1984). To evaluate whether the reduced TX synthesis upon -the second thrombin exposure is due to depletion of their AA precursor pool, thrombin-pretreated platelets and tyrode-pretreated platelets (5×108/ml) were resuspended in autologous ACD plasma and incubated at 37°C with 0.2 μCi 14C-AA (20 μM) for 60 to 90 min in the presence of PGE1 (10 μM). Mean platelet uptake of 14C-AA (disappearance of radioactivity from the supernatant) was 12+3 nmoles AA/109 platelets and did not differ significantly between thrombin-pretreated platelets and controls. Thrombin-pretreated platelets released 10% or 4.5% of their 14c-activity upon further exposure to thrombin (2 U/ml) or collagen (8 μg/ml), respectively. The release from control platelets (15% with thrombin, 6.5% with collagen) did not differ from that of thrombin-pretreated platelets. However, even after incubation in ACD plasma, thrombin-pretreated platelets continued to form significantly less TXB2 (5.0±1.6 nmoles/109 platelets) than controls (9.7±2.2 nmoles/109 platelets, p< 0.05). These data indicate that the reduced capacity of thrombin-pretreated platelets is due neither to a depletion of the endogenous AA pool nor to an inactivation of cyclooxygenase or TX synthetase. The reduced TX synthesis capacity may be caused by a modification, destruction or desensitization of the platelet thrombin receptor as a consequence of the preceding thrombin stimulation.
Exogenous arachidonic acid mediates permeability of human brain microvessel endothelial cells through prostaglandin E2
activation of EP3
and EP4
receptors
