Studies on the release of a plasminogen activator inhibitor by human platelets

The relative contribution of platelets to plasminogen activator inhibitor (PA-inhibitor) activity in blood was investigated. From the difference in PA-inhibitor levels in platelet-poor plasmas of 12 donors (3 +/- 1 U/ml, mean +/- 95% confidence limits) and in the corresponding platelet-rich plasmas after induction of platelet aggregation by collagen, ADP or epinephrine (7 +/- 1 U/ml), it may be concluded that a greater amount of PA-inhibitor in blood is associated with platelets than with plasma. In collagen-stimulated platelets maximal release of PA-inhibitor and of beta-thromboglobulin (beta-TG) was attained within fifteen seconds, whereas in ADP-stimulated platelets the release of both factors was slower. In platelet-poor plasma no correlation was found between the level of PA-inhibitor and that of beta-TG. Thus, the PA-inhibitor found in plasma is not derived from platelets that had been stimulated after blood collection. The rate of complex formation and the Mr of the principal complexes of radioiodinated tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) or urokinase (UK), in platelet-poor plasma, in platelet-rich plasma after platelet aggregation or in an extract of washed platelets was the same. Moreover, complexes of UK or t-PA with plasmatic PA-inhibitor or with the PA-inhibitor(s) from platelets bound to immobilized antibodies against bovine endothelial cell-derived PA-inhibitor. These results show that the PA-inhibitors in plasma and in platelets are very similar or identical.