Biochemical energetics of simulated platelet plug formation. Effect of thrombin, adenosine diphosphate, and epinephrine on intra- and extracellular adenine nucleotide kinetics.

Washed human platelets were incubated in a modified Ringer's solution, pH 7.1, at 37 degrees C for 1 hr. Intracellular basal levels for glycogen, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), adenosine diphosphate (ADP), adenosine monophosphate (AMP), and orthophosphate were 31.1, 2.52, 1.39, 0.36, and 1.2 mumoles/ml of platelets, respectively. Extracellular ATP, ADP, and AMP remained fairly constant and represented 4, 2, and 4% of total adenine nucleotide content. Total adenine nucleotide content remained unchanged during the period of control incubation. Glycogen depletion was 17.8 mumoles/ml at the end of 1 hr; lactate production was 20.7 mumoles/ml per hr. In the presence of glucose, lactate production increased 100%, and glycogen depletion was spared 13%. Approximately 55% of glucose or glycogen fuel was converted to lactate. The agglutinating agents, thrombin, ADP, and epinephrine, resulted in increased glycogen depletion and lactate production both in the presence and absence of glucose. The effect of thrombin was greater than epinephrine. The effect of epinephrine was greater than ADP. All three agglutinating agents resulted in loss of high energy phosphates (net decline in adenine nucleotides) with release of adenine nucleotides into the extracellular environment. The effect of thrombin was greater than ADP. The effect of ADP was greater than epinephrine. In experiments with ADP addition, significant quantities of ADP were converted to AMP extracellularly. In experiments with thrombin and epinephrine appreciable quantities of extracellular orthophosphate were taken up by plateletes and could not be accounted for by changes in intracellular orthophosphate or adenine nucleotide. Sufficient ADP was released during exposure to thrombin and epinephrine to account for platelet agglutination. Changes in intracellular adenine nucleotides and orthophosphate could be correlated with the activation of regulator glycogenolytic and glycolytic enzymes.