Bio-Inspired Drug Delivery Noting that platelets naturally migrate to narrowed blood vessels characterized by high fluid shear stress, Korin et al. (p. 738 , published online 5 July; see the Perspective by Lavik and Ustin ) developed a nanoparticle-based therapeutic that uses a similar targeting mechanism to deliver a drug to vessels obstructed by blood clots. Aggregates of nanoparticles coated with the clot-dissolving drug tPA (tissue plasminogen activator) were designed to fall apart and release the drug only when encountering high fluid shear stress. In preclinical models, the bio-inspired therapeutic dissolved clots and restored normal blood flow at lower doses than free tPA, suggesting that this localized delivery system may help reduce the risk of side effects such as excessive bleeding.

Objective Thiol isomerases facilitate protein folding in the endoplasmic reticulum, and several of these enzymes, including PDI and ERp57, are mobilized to the surface of activated platelets, where they influence platelet aggregation, blood coagulation and thrombus formation. In this study we examined for the first time the synthesis and trafficking of thiol isomerases in megakaryocytes, determined their subcellular localization in platelets and identified the cellular events responsible for their movement to the platelet surface upon activation. Approach and Results Immunofluorescence microscopy (IFM) imaging was used to localize PDI and ERp57 in murine and human megakaryocytes at various developmental stages. IFM and subcellular fractionation analysis were used to localize these proteins in platelets to a compartment distinct from known secretory vesicles that overlaps with an inner cell surface membrane region defined by the endoplasmic/sarcoplasmic reticulum proteins calnexin and SERCA3. IFM and flow cytometry were used to monitor thiol isomerase mobilization in activated platelets in the presence and absence of actin polymerization (inhibited by latrunculin), and in the presence or absence of membrane fusion mediated by Munc 13-4 (absent in platelets from Unc13dJinx mice). Conclusions Platelet-borne thiol isomerases are trafficked independently of secretory granule contents in megakaryocytes, and become concentrated in a subcellular compartment near the inner surface of the platelet outer membrane corresponding to the sarco/endoplasmic reticulum of these cells. Thiol isomerases are mobilized to the surface of activated platelets via a process that requires actin polymerization but not SNARE/Munc 13-4-dependent vesicular-plasma membrane fusion.