No abstract

SummaryEffects of picotamide (900 mg in 3 oral administrations for 7 days) on ex vivo and in vivo platelet T×A2 production and on platelet aggregation wpre evaluated in 8 patients with peripheral arteriopathy and in 8 normal subjects. Picotamide significantly reduced ADP-induced platelet aggregation, but had no effect on that induced by arachidonic acid or the thromboxane analogue U46619. Though ex vivo platelet T×A2 production (T×B2 concentration after arachidonic-acid-induced aggregation) was reduced from 946 ± 141 (mean ± SD) to 285 ± 91 ng/ml in controls and from 1515 ± 673 to 732 ± 420 ng/ml in patients with arteriopathy, there was no effect on urinary excretion of 2,3-dinor-T×B2 (in vivo indicator of platelet T×A2 production), or on in vivo PGI2 production (urinary excretion of 6-keto-PGF1α and 2,3-dinor-6-keto-PGF1α). In the same subjects, single-dose aspirin reduced ex vivo T×B2 production by at least 98% and 2,3-dinor-T×B2 excretion from 116.7 ± 61.4 to 32.6 ± 17.0 nglg creatinine in control subjects, and from 156.3 ± 66.1 to 59.1 ± 19.2 ng/g creatinine in patients with peripheral arteriopathy. Our data suggest that inhibition of platelet T×A2 production in vivo may not be picotamide’s main mechanism of action.

The kinetics and dose-dependence of activation of human neutrophils exposed to sequential additions of the chemotactic peptide n-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP) have been investigated by multiwell microplate assays. Treatment of neutrophils with medium-high doses (from 10(-8) to 5 x 10(-7) M) of fMLP caused activation of superoxide anion (O2-) production, but prevented further activation by a subsequent addition of an optimal dose (from 10(-7) M to 5 x 10(-7) M) of fMLP. These findings represent an example of cell desensitization, or adaptation. However, neutrophils treated with low, sub-stimulatory doses (from 10(-10) to 5 x 10(-9) M) of the peptide and then treated with optimal doses of fMLP exhibited an O2- production that was two to three-fold higher than that induced by the same optimal doses on untreated cells. A similar phenomenon of homologous priming of the oxidative metabolism of neutrophil has not previously been described or characterized. Priming was maximal after about 30 min of incubation with fMLP, which differed from desensitization, which required only a few minutes. Homologous priming was not confined to O2- production, but was also observed with the release of the granule enzyme, lysozyme. Low doses of fMLP were also capable of triggering an increase of intracellular free Ca2+ and of fMLP membrane receptors, which are possible mechanisms responsible for priming.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract