Kinetics of energy consumption in human platelets with blocked ATP regeneration

Abrupt arrest of ATP resynthesis in blood platelets induces a rapid decline in metabolic ATP-ADP. This decline is biexponential with a 7-fold difference in the rate-constants of the two components. Stimulation with thrombin increases both rate-constants, and raises the relative contribution of the rapid component from 60 to 90% of total. The initial decline can be approximated by a single exponential term, yielding the rate-constant for initial ATP hydrolysis. Since this initial decline reflects energy consumption of undisturbed platelets, this approach offers a sensitive means to determine energy consumption and ATP turnover within short time intervals.