Minding the gaps to promote thrombus growth and stability.
Efforts to understand the role of platelets in hemostasis and thrombosis have largely focused on the earliest events of platelet activation, those that lead to aggregation. Although much remains to be learned about those early events, this Review examines a later series of events: the interactions between platelets that can only occur once aggregation has begun, bringing platelets into close contact with each other, creating a protected environment in the gaps between aggregated platelets, and fostering the continued growth and stability of the hemostatic plug.
Brass
Lawrence F
LF
Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. Brass@mail.med.upenn.edu
Zhu
Li
L
Stalker
Timothy J
TJ
D000818:Animals; D001777:Blood Coagulation; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000378:metabolism; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D020690:GTPase-Activating Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006487:Hemostasis; D006801:Humans; D016023:Integrins / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D010829:Physiological Phenomena; D015539:Platelet Activation; D010973:Platelet Adhesiveness; D010974:Platelet Aggregation; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000473:pathology*
D020690:GTPase-Activating Proteins; D016023:Integrins