Markers of platelet activation and oxidant stress in atherothrombotic disease.

Several new approaches to the study of platelet activation have been developed. Logically, these should be combined with novel indices of coagulant function (60,61) to select rational targets for antithrombotic drugs. They may also be invaluable in dose-finding, which has been a particular weakness in this area of drug development (62,63). While activation of platelets and the coagulation cascade are virtually simultaneous events, markers of the atherosclerosis are also artificially segregated from those of the complicating thrombotic process. Oxidant stress has been implicated in both platelet activation (64) and atherogenesis (65), yet our ability to study this system has been so constrained that we are unsure of appropriate doses of antioxidant vitamins. Novel approaches to this problem promise the ability to study oxidative modification of proteins (46,66,67), lipids (57) and DNA (45,68) in clinical studies.