Effect of anticoagulants on aggregation and membrane glycoprotein of platelets

Objective To study the effect of different anticoagulants,including sodium citrate,heparin and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid（EDTA） on platelets membrane glycoprotein（PAC-1 and CD62P） by flow cytometry and aggregation of platelets induced by adenosine diphosphate（ADP） and arachidonic acid（AA）. Methods Percentages of AA-and ADP-induced aggregation and glycoprotein activation of platelets were detected in 70 healthy volunteers by plasma turbidimetry and flow cytometry,respectively. Results The aggregation rate of platelets with AA inducer anticoagulated by sodium citrate was similar to that anticoagulated by heparin.However,the aggregation rate of platelets with ADP inducer was lower than that anticoagulated by heparin（P＜0.05）.The platelets scarcely aggregated with both AA and ADP inducer in the sample anticoagulated by EDTA.The fluorescent intensity of PAC-1 and CD62P was lowest in the sample anticoagulated by CTAD.The percentage of membrane glycoprotein（PAC-1 and CD62P） of platelets anticoagulated by heparin was the highest followed by that anticoagulated by sodium citrate.The CD62P activation of platelets anticoagulated by EDTA was only second to than that anticoagulated by heparin.The PAC-1 activation of platelets anticoagulated by EDTA was very low,indicating that EDTA inhibits the expression of PAC-1. Conclusion Sodium citrate is the best anticoagulant of platelets aggregation.CTAD can prevent platelet activation and is the best specimen anticoagulating method for the detection of membrane glycoprotein of platelets by flow cytometry.