The effect of prednisolone, thromboxane, and platelet-activating factor receptor antagonists on lymphocyte and platelet migration in experimental cardiac transplantation.

Abstract

Three agents that significantly prolong cardiac allograft survival were tested in Lewis rats that were recipients of hearts from Lewis X Brown-Norway F1 hybrid donors. In the presence of azathioprine, the effects of daily administration of either the thromboxane antagonist (L 640,035), the platelet-activating factor (PAF) antagonist (BN 52021) or prednisolone were evaluated on the infiltration of cardiac allografts by syngeneic lymphocytes and platelets labeled with 111indium. As anticipated, platelet deposition was reduced by the thromboxane antagonist and unaffected by the PAF antagonist; the latter is likely due to the known absence of PAF receptors in rat platelets. In addition prednisolone had no effect. The increased accumulation of lymphocytes on days 4-5 was also unaffected by all three drugs. These experiments indicate that, in this model, graft survival is not necessarily related to lymphocyte and platelet infiltration of the graft. The data also provide evidence for the efficacy of the thromboxane receptor antagonist L 640,035 in preventing platelet deposition in vivo.