title: Clinical applicability of reticulated platelets.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Reticulated platelets (RPs), immature platelets newly released from the bone marrow into the circulation, have a high content of ribonucleic acid and are larger and more active in thrombus formation.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This review compiles articles that evaluated RP in order to establish their clinical significance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  RPs increase when platelet production rises and decrease when production falls. As such, the measurement of circulating RPs allows the assessment of thrombocytopenia, i.e., bone marrow production or peripheral destruction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  RPs are a promising laboratory tool for evaluation of idiopathic thrombocytopenia (differentiating hypoproduction from accelerated platelet destruction), chemotherapy and after stem cell transplantation (predicting platelet recovery) and thrombocytosis (estimating platelet turnover). Additional randomized and well controlled clinical studies are required to clearly establish the significance of circulating RPs in other clinical conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Toxicological Analysis, Faculty of Pharmacy-Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil. Electronic address: lucidusse@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Luci Maria SantAna
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Dusse
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Toxicological Analysis, Faculty of Pharmacy-Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Letícia Gonçalves
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Freitas
mesh_terms: D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000166:cytology*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D018805:Sepsis / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D013921:Thrombocytopenia / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis
keywords: Immature platelet; Reticulated platelets; Thrombocytopenia; Thrombopoiesis