[Structural and functional properties of the thrombocytes in ischemic heart disease].

Electronic paramagnetic resonance was used to study the structural and functional properties of platelets from patients with coronary heart disease. It was established with the use of the spin probe 5-doxylstearate that cytoplasmic platelet membranes of coronary heart disease patients are marked by a higher molecular packing as compared to normal. The rate of platelet aggregation studied independently of plasma factors appeared also higher, with a direct correlation being discovered between the aggregation properties and viscosity of platelet membranes. Such a modification of the physical and functional properties might be accounted for by cholesterol accumulation which is evidenced by an increase in the molar content of cholesterol in the cells. It is suggested that platelets from coronary heart disease patients, which have more rigid membranes, have a greater ability to adhere to other, particularly to endothelial cells, thereby giving rise to the atherosclerosis of the vascular wall.