A Functional Basis For The Platelet Storage Pool Deficiency In Chediak-Higashi Cattle

Abstract

Platelets from cattle with the morphologic homolog of the Chediak-Higashi (CH) syndrome are essentially devoid of secretable nucleotides and serotonin. There are reduced but still substantial amounts of secretable calcium and magnesium. The storage pool deficiency may be, in part, due to a functional granule defect. Platelets from CH cattle take up serotonin and protect it from degradation for several hours. If these platelets are treated with thrombin, serotonin and bivalent cations are released by mechanisms similar to that of secretion, suggesting a granule location for the released serotonin and cations. This suggestion is verified by subcellular fractionation studies where platelets are first incubated with 14C-serotonin then lysed using a French press. Organelles were then separated on a sucrose gradient by centrifugation. Serotonin in normal bovine platelets is associated with the dense granule or pellet while in CH platelets serotonin is primarily found in a region of the sucrose density zone that in normal platelets contain alpha granules. These findings suggested that some granules in CH platelets are able to acquire the bivalent cation and amine but not the nucleotide component of the bivalent cation-nucleotide-amine storage complex that is thought to occur in normal dense granules.Ultrastructural identification of the serotonin-containing CH granule is not known. There are 2 identifiable granule populations in CH platelets, alpha granules and fibrous matrix granules. Based on serial sectioning freeze fracture and morphometric studies, there are less than 4 of these granules/platelet. Mepacrine studies also demonstrate 2 granule populations. One population has an incidence of 2 per granule and characteristics of normal dense granules. Since the number of fibrous matrix granules and mepacrine granules is similar, a common basis for these granules which has at least some dense granule characteristics, i.e., mepacrine storage, is suggested.