Abstract
1. Shape change, aggregation and secretion of dense-granule constituents in platelets differ in their dependence on cellular energy metabolism. The possibility that such a difference also exists between secretion of dense-granule constituents and acid hydrolases was investigated. 2. Human platelets were incubated with [(14)C]adenine in plasma, and then washed and resuspended in salt solutions. The effects of incubating the cells with antimycin A and 2-deoxyglucose on the concentrations of [(14)C]ATP, ADP, AMP, IMP and inosine plus hypoxanthine and on thrombin-induced secretion of ATP plus ADP and acid hydrolases were studied. The metabolic inhibitors only affected (14)C-labelled nucleotides, whereas thrombin only liberated unlabelled ATP and ADP. 3. The extent of secretion decreased progressively with time during incubation with the metabolic inhibitors. At any time the secretion of acid hydrolases, beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase, beta-glucuronidase and beta-galactosidase was inhibited to a greater extent than secretion of ATP plus ADP (dense-granule secretion). 4. Incubation with the metabolic inhibitors shifted the log (dose)-response relationship to higher thrombin concentrations, and with a greater shift for acid hydrolase secretion than for dense-granule secretion. 5. Antimycin, when present alone, caused a marked decrease in the rate of acid hydrolase secretion, but had no effect on dense-granule secretion. 6. These results further support the view that acid hydrolase secretion and dense-granule secretion are separate processes with different requirements for ATP energy. Acid hydrolase secretion, but not dense-granule secretion, appears to depend on a simultaneous rapid generation of ATP, which can be accomplished by oxidative, but not by glycolytic, ATP production.