Determinants of platelet responsiveness to nitric oxide in patients with chronic heart failure

• Published in: European journal of heart failure 2004-01, Vol.6 (1), p.47-54
• Main Authors: Anderson, R.A., Ellis, G.R., Chirkov, Y.Y., Holmes, A.S., Payne, N., Blackman, D.J., Jackson, S.K., Lewis, M.J., Horowitz, J.D., Frenneaux, M.P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors - pharmacology; Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Case-Control Studies; Cell Culture Techniques; Female; Free radicals; Heart failure; Heart Failure - drug therapy; Heart Failure - physiopathology; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Nitric Oxide Donors - pharmacology; Nitroprusside - pharmacology; Oxidative Stress - physiology; Platelet Aggregation - drug effects; Platelets; Severity of Illness Index
• ISSN: 1388-9842; 1879-0844
• DOI: 10.1016/S1388-9842(03)00038-2

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is associated with oxidative stress. Platelet responsiveness to nitric oxide (NO) donors, are impaired in patients with angina pectoris, possibly by increasing oxidative stress. We investigated the occurrence of platelet resistance to NO in patients, with ischaemic or non‐ischaemic cardiomyopathy compared with normal subjects. Anti‐aggregatory effects of sodium nitroprusside (SNP), oxidative stress and whole blood superoxide anion content were determined, with correlates of responsiveness to SNP. Inhibition of platelet aggregation by SNP was 65.4±3.55% in controls and 59.3±4.1% in CHF (P=ns) despite increased oxidative stress and post‐aggregation O2− in CHF patients. However, subsets of CHF patients have NO‐resistant platelets: this is associated with increasing age and/or increased oxidative stress (both p