The trend in hospitals and guidelines is to be increasingly cautious with blood transfusions. Due to side effects associated with blood transfusion and the increasing scarcity and costs of blood products. For example, in ...
May 24, 2023
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An international research team led by the German University of Jena has now developed a promising approach to significantly reducing blood clotting on the heart valve material titanium.
May 19, 2023
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Even as biomedical engineer Anirban Sen Gupta refines artificial platelets to stem traumatic bleeding, he and his colleagues are seeking new uses for their synthetic solution.
Apr 18, 2023
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University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have developed a new method for targeting tumors with cancer drugs by exploiting the clotting propensity of blood platelets.
Mar 30, 2023
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A new review paper titled "What is hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, platelet (HALP) score? A comprehensive literature review of HALP's prognostic ability in different cancer types" has been published in Oncotarget
Mar 6, 2023
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A new research paper titled "Immune-mediated platelet depletion augments Alzheimer's disease neuropathological hallmarks in APP-PS1 mice" has been published in the journal Aging.
Feb 15, 2023
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A Mater Research study has identified a previously unknown genetic link between platelets and Parkinson's Disease, with findings published in Cell Genomics.
Feb 3, 2023
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Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood, according to the American Red Cross. Becoming a donor is easy and can make a significant impact on your community.
Feb 1, 2023
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With the constant need for blood and platelet donations, frequent, regular blood donors are crucial to having a continuous national blood supply. Across Mayo Clinic in Rochester, for example, anywhere between 50 and 70 units ...
Jan 20, 2023
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A high-fat diet may combat low platelet counts in the blood caused by chemotherapy, according to preliminary research, which suggests that a ketogenic eating plan may be a nontoxic, low-cost and high-benefit addition to cancer ...
Platelets, or thrombocytes (from Greek θρόμβος, "clot" and κύτος, "cell"), are small, irregularly shaped clear cell fragments (i.e. cells that do not have a nucleus containing DNA), 2–3 µm in diameter, which are derived from fragmentation of precursor megakaryocytes. The average lifespan of a platelet is normally just 5 to 9 days. Platelets are a natural source of growth factors. They circulate in the blood of mammals and are involved in hemostasis, leading to the formation of blood clots.
If the number of platelets is too low, excessive bleeding can occur. However, if the number of platelets is too high, blood clots can form (thrombosis), which may obstruct blood vessels and result in such events as a stroke, myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism or the blockage of blood vessels to other parts of the body, such as the extremities of the arms or legs. An abnormality or disease of the platelets is called a thrombocytopathy, which could be either a low number of platelets (thrombocytopenia), a decrease in function of platelets (thrombasthenia), or an increase in the number of platelets (thrombocytosis). There are disorders that reduce the number of platelets, such as heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) or thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) that typically cause thromboses, or clots, instead of bleeding.
Platelets release a multitude of growth factors including Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), a potent chemotactic agent, and TGF beta, which stimulates the deposition of extracellular matrix. Both of these growth factors have been shown to play a significant role in the repair and regeneration of connective tissues. Other healing-associated growth factors produced by platelets include basic fibroblast growth factor, insulin-like growth factor 1, platelet-derived epidermal growth factor, and vascular endothelial growth factor. Local application of these factors in increased concentrations through Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has been used as an adjunct to wound healing for several decades.
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