The platelet extinction coefficient measured by aggregometry is dependent on platelet composition rather than size: implications for studies of platelet heterogeneity and abnormalities.

Extinction (E) or light transmission measurements of platelet suspensions have been widely used to evaluate platelet structure and aggregation for platelet populations of varying mean platelet size (V). However, useful comparisons of platelet suspensions from donors having abnormally-sized platelets with those from healthy controls require a knowledge of the dependence of E on V. We have analyzed the extinction per platelet (e) as a function of the geometric scattering cross-section of equivalent spheres, V2/3, related to the apparent mean platelet optical efficiency, k. Such an analysis using data previously reported by Holme et al., for healthy controls and a variety of platelet-associated disorders showed e/V2/3 or k to be constant over an eight-fold variation in V. The outstanding exception was platelet suspensions from myeloproliferative disorder patients (MPD) which showed approximately 25% reduction in k values. When we analyzed e/V2/3 data for different-sized platelet subpopulations which were isolated by elutriation from healthy donors, we found that k doubled with a doubling in V from small to large platelets. It appears that the use of aggregometry devices with wide light acceptance angles yields k values for platelets which are insensitive to variations in V, but rather are sensitive to the expected variations in refractive index associated with distinct platelet internal composition and organization expected for different-sized normal subpopulations and "diseased" platelets as found in MPD. We relate these observations to photometric studies of platelet heterogeneity and of aggregation of platelets with different V and k values.