Whereas adenosine itself exerted independent stimulatory and inhibitory effects on the adenylate cyclase activity of a platelet particulate fraction at low and high concentrations respectively, 2-substituted and N6-monosubstituted adenosines had stimulatory but greatly decreased inhibitory effects. Deoxyadenosines, on the other hand, had enhanced inhibitory but no stimulatory effects. The most potent inhibitors found were, in order of increasing activity, 9-(tetrahydro-2-furyl)adenine (SQ 22536), 2',5'-dideoxyadenosine and 2'-deoxyadenosine 3'-monophosphate. Kinetic studies on prostaglandin E1-activated adenylate cyclase showed that the inhibition caused by either 2',5'-dideoxyadenosine or compound SQ 22536 was non-competitive with MgATP and that the former compound, at least, showed negative co-operativity; 50% inhibition was observed with 4 micron-2',5'-dideoxyadenosine or 13 micron-SQ 22536. These two compounds also inhibited both the basal and prostaglandin E1-activated adenylate cyclase activities of intact platelets, when these were measured as the increases in cyclic [3H]AMP in platelets that had been labelled with [3H]adenine and were then incubated briefly with papaverine or papaverine and prostaglandin E1. Both compounds, but particularly 2',5'-dideoxyadenosine, markedly decreased the inhibition by prostaglandin E1 of platelet aggregation induced by ADP or [arginine]vasopressin as well as the associated increases in platelet cyclic AMP, so providing further evidence that the effects of prostaglandin E1 on platelet aggregation are mediated by cyclic AMP. 2'-Deoxyadenosine 3'-monophosphate did not affect the inhibition of aggregation by prostaglandin E1, suggesting that the site of action of deoxyadenosine derivatives on adenylate cyclase is intracellular. Neither 2',5'-dideoxyadenosine nor compound SQ 22536 alone induced platelet aggregation. Moreover, neither compound potentiated platelet aggregation or the platelet release reaction when suboptimal concentrations of ADP, [arginine]vasopressin, collagen or arachidonate were added to heparinized or citrated platelet-rich plasma in the absence of prostaglandin E1. These results show that cyclic AMP plays no significant role in the responses of platelets to aggregating agents in the absence of compounds that increase the platelet cyclic AMP concentration above the resting value.

Human platelets containing granule-bound[%]serotonin were permeabilized, equilibrated at 0' C with ATP and with various Caz+ buffers and guanine nucleotides, and then incubated at 25" C with or without a stimulatory agonist. Ca*+ alone induced the ATP-dependent secretion of [14C]serotonin (50:; at a pCa of 5.1) but the sensitivity of secretrion to CaZ+ was greatly enhanced by guanine nucleotides [6-fold by 100pM GTP, lOO-fold by 100pM guanyl-S-y1 imidodiphosphate and > SOO-fold by 100pM guanosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate)]or by stimulatory agonists (lo-fold by 2 units thrombin/ml and 4-fold by 1 PM I-O-octadecyl-2-0-acetyl-sn-glyceryl-3-phosphorylcholine).When both GTP and a stimulatory agonist were added, they had synergistic effects on secretion. Cyclic GMP and GMP acted similarly to GTP. The effects of all these guanine nucleotides were inhibited by guanosine 5'-0-(2_thiodiphosphate), whereas those of stimulatory agonists were not. Our results demonstrate the presence in platelets of guanine nucleotide-dependent and independent mechanisms regulating the sensitivity of secretrion to Ca'+, Guanine nucleotideCalcium

Electropermeabilized human platelets containing 5-hydroxy[14C]tryptamine ([14C]5-HT) were suspended in a glutamate medium containing ATP and incubated for 10 min with (in various combinations) Ca2+ buffers, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), guanine nucleotides, and thrombin. Release of [14C]5-HT and beta-thromboglobulin (beta TG) were used to measure secretion from dense and alpha-granules, respectively. Ca2+ alone induced secretion from both granule types; half-maximal effects were seen at a -log [Ca2+ free] (pCa) of 5.5 and maximal secretion at a pCa of 4.5, when approximately 80% of 5-HT and approximately 50% of beta TG were released. Addition of PMA, guanosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) (GTP gamma S), GTP, or thrombin shifted the Ca2+ dose-response curves for secretion of both 5-HT and beta TG to the left and caused small increases in the maximum secretion observed. These results suggested that secretion from alpha-granules, like that from dense granules, is a Ca(2+)-dependent process stimulated by the sequential activation of a G-protein, phospholipase C, and protein kinase C (PKC). However, high concentrations of PMA and GTP gamma S had distinct effects in the absence of Ca2+ (pCa greater than 9); 100 nM PMA released approximately 20% of platelet 5-HT but little beta TG, whereas 100 microM GTP gamma S stimulated secretion of approximately 25% of each. Simultaneous addition of PMA greatly enhanced these effects of GTP gamma S. Phosphorylation of pleckstrin in permeabilized platelets incubated with [gamma-32P]ATP was used as an index of the activation of PKC during secretion. In the absence of Ca2+, 100 nM PMA caused maximal phosphorylation of pleckstrin and 100 microM GTP gamma S was approximately 50% as effective as PMA; neither GTP gamma S nor Ca2+ enhanced the phosphorylation of pleckstrin caused by 100 nM PMA. These results indicate that, although activation of PKC promoted secretion, GTP gamma S exerted additional stimulatory effects on secretion from both dense and alpha-granules that were not mediated by PKC. Measurement of [3H]inositol phosphate formation in permeabilized platelets containing [3H]phosphoinositides showed that GTP gamma S did not stimulate phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C in the absence of Ca2+. It follows that in permeabilized platelets, GTP gamma S can both stimulate PKC and enhance secretion via G-protein-linked effectors other than this phospholipase.

Summary. In studies on human platelets, nitroprusside (NP) alone at 1-10 lmol/l increased platelet cyclic AMP (cAMP) by 40-70%, whereas increases in cyclic GMP (cGMP) were much larger in percentage though not in concentration terms. Collagen enhanced these increases in cAMP up to fourfold, without affecting cGMP. This effect was partly prevented by indomethacin or aspirin, indicating that platelet cyclo-oxygenase products acted synergistically with NP to increase cAMP. ADP released from the platelets by collagen tended to restrict this cAMP accumulation. Addition of 2¢,5¢-dideoxyadenosine (DDA), an inhibitor of adenylyl cyclase, decreased both the inhibition of collagen-induced platelet aggregation by NP and the associated accumulation of cAMP without affecting cGMP, indicating that cAMP mediates part of the inhibitory effect of NP. Unlike DDA, 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ), an inhibitor of guanylyl cyclase, blocked all increases in both cGMP and cAMP caused by NP, as well as the inhibition of platelet aggregation, suggesting that cAMP accumulation was secondary to that of cGMP. Human platelet cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) coelectrophoresed with the purified bovine type Ib isoenzyme. An inhibitor of this enzyme (R p )-b-phenyl-1,N 2 -etheno-8-bromoguanosine 3¢,5¢-cyclicmonophosphorothioate, diminished the inhibition of collagen-induced platelet aggregation by NP, but had little additional effect when DDA was present. This showed that both PKG and cAMP participate in the inhibition of collagen-induced platelet aggregation by NP. Moreover, selective activators of PKG and cAMP-dependent protein kinases had supra-additive inhibitory effects, suggesting that an optimal inhibitory effect of NP requires simultaneous activation of both enzymes.

In human platelets, thrombin not only stimulates the phosphorylation of pleckstrin (P47) and of myosin P-light chains, but also induces the dephosphorylation of an 18-19 kDa phosphoprotein (P18) [Imaoka, Lynham and Haslam (1983) J. Biol. Chem. 258, 11404-11414]. We have now studied this protein in detail. The thrombin-induced dephosphorylation reaction did not begin until the phosphorylation of myosin P-light chains and the secretion of dense-granule 5-hydroxytryptamine were nearly complete, but did parallel the later stages of platelet aggregation. Experiments with ionophore A23187 and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate indicated that dephosphorylation of P18 was stimulated by Ca2+, but not by protein kinase C. Two-dimensional analysis of platelet proteins, using non-equilibrium pH gradient electrophoresis followed by SDS/PAGE, showed that thrombin decreased the amount of phosphorylated P18 in platelets by up to 70% and slightly increased the amount of a more basic unlabelled protein that was present in 3-fold excess of P18 in unstimulated platelets. These two proteins were identified as the phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated forms of the pH-sensitive actin-depolymerizing protein, cofilin, by sequencing of peptide fragments and immunoblotting with a monoclonal antibody specific for cofilin. The molar concentration of cofilin in platelets was approx. 10% that of actin. Platelet cofilin was phosphorylated exclusively on serine. Experiments with electropermeabilized platelets showed that dephosphorylation of cofilin could be stimulated by guanosine 5'-[gamma-thio]triphosphate (GTP[S]) in the absence of Ca2+ or by a free Ca2+ concentration of 10 microM. This GTP[S]-induced dephosphorylation reaction was inhibited by 1-naphthyl phosphate, but not by okadaic acid. Our results add cofilin to the actin-binding proteins that may regulate the platelet cytoskeleton, and suggest that platelet cofilin can be activated by dephosphorylation reactions initiated either by a GTP-binding protein or Ca2+.