The affinity of platelets for the subendothelium.
It is known that platelets adhere to subendothelial tissues, but it is not clear as to whether this results in thrombus formation. To study this question, 94 arterial specimens in dogs were randomly treated, either by balloon stripping which exposed the subendothelium (Group I) or by endarterectomy, which exposed the media (Group II). Platelets tagged with 51Cr were injected into some of the animals and the degree of adherence to the vessel wall measured. In the rest, the thrombosis rate was measured at 48 hours. It was shown that the platelets tend not to adhere to the subendothelium in great numbers. The thrombosis rates were 8.6 per cent in Group I compared to 47.8 per cent in Group II. The conclusion drawn from these results was that the subendothelium was antithrombogenic and that this layer should be preserved at vascular anastomoses to discourage platelet adherence and thrombosis.
D000818:Animals; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000502:physiology*; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000502:physiology*; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D004285:Dogs; D004727:Endothelium / Q000502:physiology; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D013997:Time Factors