Selective Inhibition of Platelet Agglutination and Aggregation by Aromatic Amidino Compounds

Abstract

A series of aromatic amidino compounds were investigated for their inhibitory effect on platelet agglutination and platelet aggregation. Agglutination of fresh or fixed human platelets was produced by bovine plasma or by human plasma in combination with ristocetin, while aggregation of fresh platelets was induced by ADP, thrombin or collagen. Highly effective inhibitors were found for both types of platelet clumping, but there was no parallelism between the inhibitory activities in the two test systems.5-(5-Amidino-2-benzimidazolyl)-2-(4-hydroxybenzene)benzimidazole suppressed agglutination exclusively. Pentamidine, on the other hand, strongly blocked the aggregation reactions, but did not interfere with agglutination, even at high concentrations. Compounds which inhibited aggregation also prevented the liberation of serotonin from the platelets.This investigation has led to the identification of new specific inhibitors of platelet agglutination and aggregation which can serve an important role in future studies of the two processes. The exact mode of interaction between ami dines and platelets is still being explored.. In the case of agglutination, inhibition most likely occurred at the level of binding of ristocetin cofactor to the platelet membrane. In the case of aggregation, however, interference could have taken place at the membranes or in the cytoplasm and could have been enzymatic or non-enzymatic in nature.