A Radioimmunoassay for Human Platelet β-Thromboglobulin
β-thromboglobulin (βtg) is a protein recently isolated from human platelets. A radioimmunoassay for βtg has been established.Using this assay, conditions have been defined for the preparation of platelet poor plasma, so as to minimise the liberation of βtg during manipulations in vitro. Platelet poor plasma prepared from whole blood, collected in EDTA, prostaglandin E9, and theophylline, and centrifuged at 0°C., contained 0.019±0.0075 μg ml−1 (mean±l SD). Serum prepared from clotted whole blood (in which platelets had undergone the release reaction) had a concentration of 17.4±6.3 μg ml−1, while plasma from platelet transfusion concentrates contained 247.0±120.3 μg ml−1. There was no increase in βtg concentration when platelet poor plasma was clotted by the addition of calcium. The presence of a 1000-fold difference between plasma and serum concentrations, the observed release following collagen induced platelet aggregation in vitro, and the observations that other human tissues contained only trace amounts suggests that βtg is unique to platelets.Preliminary clinical studies have shown that patients with acute arterial thrombosis and others with prosthetic heart valves have raised plasma concentrations. It is possible, therefore, that this assay has potential uses for studying the platelet release reaction in vitro, and also the identification of individuals with excessive platelet sequestration in vivo.