Whole blood platelet aggregation is not affected by cigarette smoking but is sex-related.
1. In normal subjects, 18-49 years old, the effects of the smoking habit (greater than 10 cigarettes/day) and the act of smoking two cigarettes over 10 min were studied on whole blood platelet aggregation (in vitro impedance method). 2. Acute smoking (n = 10) did not affect platelet aggregation to ADP, collagen or to platelet activating factor (PAF) nor thromboxane B2 production during aggregation. There was no difference between smokers (n = 13) and non-smokers (n = 10). However, aggregation to all aggregants was greater in females (n = 11) than males (n = 12) (ADP and collagen, P less than 0.001; PAF, P less than 0.01; ANOVA). 3. Although others have obtained diverse results studying platelet-rich plasma, the absence of an effect of cigarette smoking on whole blood platelet aggregation is consistent with many of those observations. Greater in vitro aggregability in females than males is consistent with the few studies of platelet-rich plasma. It seems unlikely that the role of cigarette smoking as a risk factor for ischaemic heart disease is related to a direct effect on platelet aggregability.
Department of Medicine, University of Western Australia, Perth.
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Taylor
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Sturm
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Vandongen
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Strophair
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Beilin
D000244:Adenosine Diphosphate / Q000494:pharmacology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001777:Blood Coagulation / Q000187:drug effects; D003094:Collagen / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010972:Platelet Activating Factor / Q000494:pharmacology; D010974:Platelet Aggregation / Q000187:drug effects*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000097:blood*; D013929:Thromboxane B2 / Q000097:blood
D010972:Platelet Activating Factor; D013929:Thromboxane B2; D000244:Adenosine Diphosphate; D003094:Collagen