The appearance of exhausted platelets due to a duration of hypertension in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Using strains of spontaneously hypertensive rats with different degrees of hypertension, the influence of the duration of hypertension on platelets was examined through changes in platelet serotonin contents. The blood pressures of these strains were in the descending order of m-SHRSP greater than SHRSP greater than SHR greater than WKY. Serotonin content in normotensive WKY platelets was maintained in the range of 0.715 +/- 0.048(17) n mole/10(8) through ages 5-50 weeks in both sexes. In contrast with WKY of the same age and sex, a significant decrease in platelet serotonin content began to be observed in male m-SHRSP at 18-weeks of age, in female m-SHRSP and male SHRSP at 22-weeks of age, and in female SHRSP at 32-weeks of age, respectively. The content in SHR platelets of both sexes was unaltered up to 40-weeks of age. The time of the appearance of these exhausted platelets coincided with the reported time of scanning electron microscopic observation of vascular injuries in each strain of rats. It has been concluded that a long duration of hypertension causes platelets to become degranulated and exhausted due to in vivo activation of platelets at sites of arterial injury. Thus the changes of platelet contents could be an indicator of vascular injuries.