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Investigation of Platelet Aggregation in Atherosclerosis

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Atherosclerosis

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2419))

Abstract

Platelet activation and aggregation is implicated in all stages of inflammation-related atherosclerosis from the initial steps of endothelial dysfunction and plaque formation, to plaque rupture and atherothrombotic events, such as acute coronary syndrome, myocardial infarction, and ischemic incidences. Platelet aggregometry assays are the mainstream for evaluating and monitoring platelet reactivity in such conditions and for the investigation of prophylactic and therapeutic approaches. The most established methodology is light transmittance aggregometry (LTA). Here we describe the appropriate preparation of platelet suspensions from human blood and the methodology of LTA-based assays that is used for basic and clinical research for monitoring and evaluating the activities of several thrombotic mediators, as well as determining the dose efficacy and safety of several pharmaceutical and nutraceutical compounds intended for therapeutic and prophylactic interventions for atherosclerosis.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express our thanks to Prof. Sean Arkins (University of Limerick), Dr. Constantina Nasopoulou (University of the Aegean), and Dr. Eleni Sioriki (Ghent University) for their support in establishing our assay.

Author Contributions

All authors contributed equally to this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Ronan Lordan, Alexandros Tsoupras & Ioannis Zabetakis

  2. Health Research Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Ronan Lordan, Alexandros Tsoupras & Ioannis Zabetakis

  3. Bernal Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Alexandros Tsoupras

Authors
  1. Ronan Lordan
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  2. Alexandros Tsoupras
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  3. Ioannis Zabetakis
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ioannis Zabetakis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Dipak Ramji

Additional information

This chapter is dedicated to Prof. Constantinos A. Demopoulos, Εmeritus Professor at the University of Athens, Greece, our valued teacher, colleague, and friend.

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© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

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Lordan, R., Tsoupras, A., Zabetakis, I. (2022). Investigation of Platelet Aggregation in Atherosclerosis. In: Ramji, D. (eds) Atherosclerosis. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2419. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1924-7_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1924-7_21

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-1923-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-1924-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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