A cone and plate viscometer for the continuous measurement of blood platelet activation

A cone and plate viscometer was modified to permit the continuous study of platelet response during shear stress exposure times on the order of one second to 180 seconds. Platelets may be stimulated by uniform, controlled shear stress alone or with the addition of chemical platelet agonists. The time course of platelet aggregation is interpreted from alterations in the apparent optical density of the platelet suspension. The rate and extent of platelet dense granule release is estimated from the intensity of the luminescent reaction of platelet released ATP with firefly luciferase and luciferin. Intracellular calcium ion concentration is determined as a function of shear exposure time through the fluorescence intensity of indo-1(5-), a membrane-permeant pentacarboxylate calcium ion chelator.