Cooperation between platelets and neutrophils for paf-acether (platelet-activating factor) formation.

Association of platelets and neutrophils is frequently observed within thrombi or inflammatory sites. Interactions between these two cell populations have been reported for the production of several mediators of inflammation such as hydrogen peroxides or leukotrienes. Another potential mediator of thrombosis and inflammation is paf-acether, which is synthesized by activated platelets and neutrophils. Since platelets form and release large amounts of the paf-acether precursor lyso paf-acether, platelet and neutrophil cooperation for paf-acether biosynthesis was investigated. Purified human neutrophils (4 x 10(6)/ml) stimulated by opsonized zymosan (ZC, 1 mg/ml) formed 4.5 +/- 2.5 ng/ml paf-acether. Human washed platelets (3 x 10(8)/ml) stimulated with thrombin (1 IU/ml) formed 0.60 +/- 0.43 ng/ml paf-acether. Platelets and neutrophils, incubated together and both stimulated by their specific agonist, formed more than twice as much paf-acether as did platelets and neutrophils separately (10.90 +/- 4.25 ng/ml, n = 6, P less than .001). The formation of lyso paf-acether and the release of lysozyme and LDH were unchanged under the cooperation conditions. The formation of paf-acether almost doubled (10.24 +/- 3.81 ng/ml paf-acether vs. 5.30 +/- 2.23, P less than .05, n = 4) when ZC-stimulated neutrophils were incubated with supernatants from thrombin-stimulated platelets as well as with synthetic lyso paf-acether. Extracted and purified lyso paf-acether from thrombin-stimulated platelets led to an increase of biosynthesis of paf-acether by neutrophils (13.86 +/- 2.26 ng/ml paf-acether vs. 5.76 +/- 0.38, P less than .05, n = 3). These results indicate that a cooperation between platelets and neutrophils exists for paf-acether formation. The phenomenon depends on a platelet-derived soluble factor, possibly lyso paf-acether. This cell-to-cell interaction is of interest since paf-acether is formed by and acting on platelets and neutrophils and represents a molecular basis for potent amplification of inflammatory reactions.