Characterization of histamine release in digitonin-permeabilized rabbit platelets.

To manipulate the intracellular milieu of rabbit platelets, permeabilization was performed using digitonin. Permeabilized platelets showed dose-dependent release of histamine, which was stored in granules of rabbit platelets, in response to extracellular calcium ion. As PMA stimulated the release reaction in digitonin-permeabilized platelets, the protein kinase C system, which regulates metabolic processes and cell reactions in intact platelets, was revealed to be working. Cupric phenanthroline also released histamine from permeabilized rabbit platelets dose-dependently, and dithiothreitol inhibited the release strongly. Since cupric phenanthroline is a mild oxidant which catalyzes the formation of disulfide bridges, as in the case of Ca2+-ATPase of sarcoplasmic reticulum, the results suggested that protein cross-linking is implicated in the regulation of the release reaction in permeabilized rabbit platelets.