Experimental atherosclerosis and a possible generation of free radicals

The difference in the aggregation mechanism between normal and hyperlipidemic rabbits was studied by kinetic analysis of changes in the number of residual single platelets in adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-induced platelet aggregation. When ADP was added to platelet rich plasma (PRP) obtained from normal rabbit, the number of single platelets decreased exponentially, but with PRP from hyperlipidemic rabbit, it decreased hyperbolically. However, the aggregation of platelets isolated from plasma of hyperlipidemic rabbit and resuspended in normal plasma showed an exponential decay, while that of normal rabbit platelets resuspended in hyperlipidemic rabbit plasma showed a hyperbolic decay. The results suggested that these aggregation mechanisms are altered mainly due to changes in the plasma components, such as the cholesterol levels.