Epinephrine Reduction of Heme: Implication for Understanding the Transmission of an Agonist Stimulus

Abstract

Alpha-adrenergic agonists that promote platelet aggregation were found to reduce ferric heme to ferrous heme. Agents that bind iron in heme inhibited epinephrine-induced platelet aggregation. It is proposed that epinephrine first binds to its receptor and then reduces an adjacent heme group to transmit its agonist stimulus.