Aggregation of postmortem platelets after stimulation with collagen and arachidonic acid.
The response to activation by collagen and arachidonic acid of platelets obtained at various intervals within the first 10 hours postmortem (hpm) was measured using a platelet aggregometer. Compared with platelets harvested from living donors, the power to aggregate remained largely intact for platelets harvested within the first 2 hpm, but dropped dramatically between 4 and 8 hpm, and was lost completely by 10 hpm. In the light of the in vivo interactions known to take place between platelets and factors of the plasma coagulation cascade, these results suggest that generalized intravascular blood coagulation ceases to take place within the first 10 hpm. After 10 hpm, fibrin can still be precipitated, but the thrombin concentration necessary for this to occur no longer leads to platelet activation.
Thomsen
H
H
Department of Forensic Medicine, Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, D-24105 Kiel, Germany.
Pueschel
K
K