<p>In Sweden about 26000 people are affected by myocardial infarction (MI) every year. Coronary vascular diseases and cerebrovascular diseases with blood flow disruption caused by thrombi are actually the most common cause of death. A contributing mechanism may be if the fibrinolytic system is uncapable to dissolve clots and it might in turn be related to the high amount of plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) released from platelets. This study investigated if there is any difference between the thrombin activation of the platelet protease activated receptors (PAR) PAR1 and PAR4 concerning PAI-1 secretion. An ELISA assay was modified in order to measure PAI-1 released from stimulated platelets. Concerning PAI-1 secretion this study concluded that PAR1 activation is slightly more sensitive to PAI-1 secretion than PAR4. Both thrombin receptors are really potent in this respect, activating only one of PAR1 or PAR4 is enough to get a strong response. This study could also confirm that platelet PAR1 undergoes desensitization when stimulated with a low dose of agonist. Despite platelets poor protein synthesis machinery it seems like they have the ability to synthesize large amounts of PAI-1.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA/oai:DiVA.org:liu-20813 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Löfgren, Emma |
| Publisher | Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, text |
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