Anticoagulant-free prepared blood platelets and the effect of calcium on their aggregation behaviour

Human blood platelets were prepared by gel filtration of native blood and subsequent centrifugation in a Ficoll density gradient avoiding any anticoagulant during the preparation. In ADP, ionophore A 23 187 and thrombin induced aggregation an increase in extracellular Ca++ enhanced the velocity of aggregation. From a defined Ca++ concentration threshold on there was a shift from monophasic to biphasic aggregation.