Superoxide, xanthine oxidase and platelet reactions: further studies on mechanisms by which oxidants influence platelets.

In the course of studying the effects on platelets of the oxidant species superoxide (O2.-), O2.- was generated by the interaction of xanthine oxidase plus xanthine. Surprisingly, gel-filtered platelets, when exposed to xanthine oxidase in the absence of xanthine substrate, were found to generate superoxide (O2.-), as determined by the reduction of added cytochrome c and by the inhibition of this reduction in the presence of superoxide dismutase. In addition to generating O2.-, the xanthine oxidase-treated platelets display both aggregation and evidence of the release reaction. This xanthine oxidase induced aggregation is not inhibited by the addition of either superoxide dismutase or cytochrome c, suggesting that it is due to either a further metabolite of O2.0, or that O2.- itself exerts no important direct effect on platelet function under these experimental conditions. The ability of C2.- to modulate platelet reactions in vivo or in vitro remains in doubt, and xanthine oxidase is an unsuitable source of O2.- in platelet studies because of its own effects on platelets.