Platelet Adhesion

Platelet aggregation occurs in response to vascular injury where the extracellular matrix below the endothelium has been exposed. Platelets also play a central role in the formation of deadly clot formation, making them a desirable target for therapeutic intervention. Conventional screening techniques have typically focused on platelet aggregation in static fluid environments, such as well plates or aggregomter tubes. It is now widely recognized that platelets become activated in response to shear stress. Setting up a physiologically relevant in vitro model should therefore incorporate the application of shear stress in the experimental protocol.

The BioFlux system can run undiluted whole-blood assays in a self-contained well-plate format. This obviates the need for pre-treatment and cleanup of tubing often associated with flow experiments. BioFlux plates are available in a variety of shear ranges to model appropriate conditions for aggregation. Numerous advantages are provided for platelet adhesion assays using the BioFlux System:

• Wide range (0-100 dyne/cm2) of controllable shear flows for unparalleled simulation of physiological conditions
• Parallel format enables up to 96 simultaneous adhesion assays
• Uses common adhesion substrates such as collagen, VWF, or endothelial cell monolayers
• Consumable format makes it easy to set up and run, virtually no downtime between experiments

Watch a Platelet Adhesion Tutorial Video here

	Calcein AM labeled platelets in whole blood rolling on von Willebrands factor under 10 dyn/cm2 shear flow. Images were captured 10 per sec.
	Dose response of platelet aggregation inhibitor under shear flow. Calcien AM –labeled whole blood treated with anti-GPIIb/IIIa antibodies. Platelets were perfused at 10 or 20 dyn/cm2 over collagen I labeled microchannels. Intensity of platelet aggregates was quantitated and IC50 curves were generated.