细胞技术

Dictyostelium discoideum is a useful cell model for studying protein–protein interactions and deciphering complex signaling pathways similar to those found in mammalian systems. Many of these interactions were analyzed using classical in vitro biochemical techniques. How ...

Platelet microparticles are submicron vesicles that can support thrombin generation on externalized negatively charged phospholipids. Increased numbers of circulating platelet microparticles have been investigated as the basis of hypercoagulability in a variety of p ...

Isolation of pure platelet samples from whole blood is crucial for the study of platelet gene expression. The main obstacles to overcome in order to successfully isolate platelets from whole blood include (1) platelet activation; (2) leukocyte and red blood cell contamination, and (3) time- ...

Platelets are anucleate cytoplasts that circulate in the bloodstream for approximately 9–11 days. Because they lack nuclei, platelets were considered incapable of protein synthesis. However, studies over the last decade have revealed that platelets use a variety of translational ...

Intravital fluorescence microscopy is increasingly used to measure experimental arterial thrombosis in large and small arteries of mice in vivo. This chapter describes protocols for applying this technology to detect and measure thrombi formed by: (1) ultrasound-induced ruptu ...

Platelet aggregation responses are conventionally assessed in cuvette-based systems using either isolated platelets or whole blood. Unfortunately, in vitro aggregometry poorly predicts in vivo functionality, since mediators derived from the vascular endothelium are ma ...

Rodent models of focal cerebral ischemia have been extremely useful in elucidating pathomechanisms of human stroke. Most commonly, a monofilament is advanced through the internal carotid artery of rodents to occlude the origin of the middle cerebral artery thus leading to critical isc ...

Platelet deposition, adhesion/aggregation, to the damaged vessel wall or atherosclerotic plaque components has shown to play a major role in hemostasis, thrombosis, and the development of atherosclerosis. Platelet-vessel wall interaction and thrombus formation is driven by b ...

Like many nucleated mammalian cells, the life and death of the anucleate platelet is regulated by Bcl-2 family proteins. Platelets depend on Bcl-xL for survival. Bcl-xL maintains platelet viability by restraining the killer protein Bak. When Bak is unleashed, it triggers classical intrin ...

The platelet is a specialized adhesive cell that plays a key role in thrombus formation under both physiological and pathological blood flow conditions. Platelet adhesion and activation are dynamic processes associated with rapid morphological and functional changes, with the ea ...

Hemostasis is dependent upon the successful recruitment and activation of blood platelets to the site of a breach in the vasculature. Platelet activation stimulates the rapid reorganization of the cortical actin cytoskeleton, resulting in the transformation of platelets from bic ...

The study of clot retraction in vitro has been adopted as a simple and reproducible approach to assess platelet function. Plasma clots should retract away from the sides of a glass tube within a few hours allowing the rapid characterization of outside-in signaling through platelet integrin αI ...

Driven by the application of immunofluorescence (IF) microscopy and modern molecular biology approaches to cytoskeletal manipulation, the last 5 years have yielded considerable progress to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms governing megakaryocyte developm ...

Differentiation and maturation of megakaryocytes occur in close association with cellular and extracellular components in the bone marrow. Thus, direct examination of these processes in the native environment provides important information regarding the development of me ...

Megakaryocytes (MKs) are the largest hematopoietic cells in bone marrow. Since the mid-1990s, recombinant thrombopoietin has been commercially available. Together with the emerging knowledge of mouse models, this has provided an unprecedented contribution to the understand ...

Platelets pose unique challenges to cell biologists due to their lack of nucleus and low levels of messenger RNA. Platelets cannot be cultured in great abundance or manipulated using common recombinant DNA technologies. As a result, platelet research has lagged behind that of nucleated ce ...

The response of platelets to changes in the immediate environment is always a balance between activatory and inhibitory signals, the cumulative effect of which is either activation or quiescence. This is true of platelets in free flowing blood and of their regulation of haemostasis and thro ...

Receptor shedding is a mechanism for irreversible removal of transmembrane cell surface receptors by proteolysis of the receptor at a position near the extracellular surface of the plasma membrane. This process generates a soluble ectodomain fragment and a membrane-associated re ...

Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease is the major cause of death in the developed world, with a high burden of disease and substantial pharmaceutical investment to manage it (WHO, Global Burden of Disease, 2004 Update, W.H. Organisation, Editor. 2008). Platelets, as the principal me ...

Megakaryopoiesis is the process by which mature megakaryocytes (MKs) develop from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). The biological function of MKs is to produce platelets, which play critical roles in hemostasis and contribute to angiogenesis and wound healing. The generation of pla ...