The influence of vaccines and hyper immune serums on protein/platelet interaction towards an artificial surface.

Protein adsorption and platelet adhesion are two important biological processes arising at the blood prosthetic interface. The effect of certain commonly used vaccines and hyper immune serums namely tetanus toxoid, tetanus immunoglobulin, polyvalent anti-snake venum serum and anticholera vaccine to modulate the surface induced platelet adhesion to polycarbonate substrate was investigated using washed calf platelets in presence and absence of fibrinogen. This study also demonstrated the changes in protein-surface binding with few of these vaccines, using SDS - polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. It seems, the addition of tetanus toxoid to the polymer-protein system increased the level of surface-bound albumin and reduced the fibrinogen-surface attachment. On the other hand, tetanus immunoglobulin reversed the effect. This itself may be one of the parameters for the observed reduction in platelet-surface attachment due to tetanus toxoid. The enhanced platelet adhesion with other vaccines, may be correlated with the availability of more fibrinogen receptors for the platelets to attach. A better understanding of the mechanism of these vaccines is needed in vivo conditions for interrelating these findings.