A Comparison of the Antiplatelet Effect of Aspirin on Human and Bovine Platelets

Abstract

The risk of thromboembolism in human patients or animal models with blood contacting prosthetic devices is well documented. Aspirin is used frequently as an antiplatelet agent to minimize this risk. Although the inhibitory effect of aspirin on human platelets has been clearly established, preliminary studies to examine this effect on bovine platelets revealed a minimal inhibition of platelet function in vivo as well as in vitro. Because a considerable amount of implant research is carried out in bovine models, it was considered important to evaluate carefully the antiplatelet effect of aspirin on bovine platelets. To evaluate the effect of aspirin, experiments were conducted on human and bovine blood in vitro as well as after the administration of aspirin up to 4,000 mg/day (p.o.) in calves and 2,500 mg/day in humans. Appropriate amounts of buffered aspirin were added to heparinized or citrated blood incubated for 25 min and centrifuged to obtain platelet rich plasma (PRP). An aliquot of PRP was then challenged by a predetermined concentration of ADP (an aggregating agent) or collagen to evaluate platelet aggregation and release reaction. After aspirin was administered in vivo, blood was drawn from the animal at predetermined intervals to evaluate platelet function. In human blood, the inhibitory effect of aspirin was discernable at 80 mg/L in vitro and 2,500 mg/day when ingested orally. Under identical experimental conditions, no inhibition of bovine platelet aggregation was observed using dosages of aspirin up to 1,000 mg/L in vitro or 4,000 mg/day in vivo. These observations suggest that although the antiplatelet effect of aspirin is quite pronounced in humans, bovine platelets do not show a similar response to this drug. This should be an important consideration when platelet inhibition is desired during postoperative management of calves.