[The adhesion of blood platelets to collagen: molecular features of collagen (author's transl)].

This review deals with some structural features of the collagen molecules involved in the adhesion of platelets representing the initial step of hemostasis, thrombosis, and (partly) atherosclerosis. The adhesion occurs at the level of a vascular lesion or deendothelialized area, whatever the genetic type of collagen. In vitro experiments with purified collagens have shown that vascular interstitial collagens (types I and III, the latter present in subendothelium) as well as basement membrane-derived collagens (types IV and V) induce an adhesion of platelets, provided that an ordered arrangement linked to the quaternary and tertiary structures of their molecule is preserved. Whatever the quaternary structure, the important point seems to be the size of the fibers and more precisely the availability of an optimal number of adhesion sites on multimerized fibers. Various direct or indirect proofs (for example, the occurrence of the impairment of collagen multimerization on platelet adhesion/aggregation) are reviewed. Our recent studies on interstitial collagens have shown the involvement of certain specific amino-acid sequences obtained after cyanogen bromide cleavage of collagen. These are the C-terminal alpha1 (I) CB6 peptide of the alpha 1 chains of type I collagen (216 amino acids) and the central alpha1 (III) CB4 peptide from type III collagen (149 amino acids) Cleavage of this last peptide by chymotrypsin, hydroxylamine, and trypsin has suggested the possibility that a nonapeptide (sequence gly-lys-hyp-gly-glu-hyp-gly-pro-lys) is a minimum site of adhesion for platelets. This assumption has been reinforced by the fact that a synthetic nonapeptide with this sequence specifically inhibits the aggregation of platelets to collagen in vitro. The adhesion of platelets may consequently be due to the repetitive staggering of short amino acid sequences (such as this nonapeptide from type III collagen) along the rigid structure formed by a multimerized collagen fiber.