Flow-cytometric analysis of mepacrine-labelled platelets in patients with end-stage renal failure

Platelet dysfunction and increased bleeding tendency has been the most consistently described haemostatic abnormality in patients with renal failure. Besides abnormalities in platelet membrane glycoproteins, a reduced amount of platelet-dense granule content has been demonstrated in patients with end-stage renal failure (ESRD) indicating an acquired storage pool deficiency (SPD) present in uraemia. To study dense granules, platelets were labelled with mepacrine, a fluorescent probe which is specifically incorporated into dense bodies. MepaPlatelets of 13 patients with ESRD and of 11 healthy controls were studied. The results showed that mepacrine-labelled platelets of patients with ESRD reveal a significantly (p < 0.05) reduced fluorescence compared to the control group. This implies a reduced number or content of dense granules present in ESRD platelets. Thus, the current data indicate that ESRD is associated with an acquired platelet SPD which may be a useful and rapid method for screening patients with suspected acquired or inherited SPD.