Role of Platelet-Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule (PECAM) in Platelet Adhesion/Aggregation Over Injured but Not Denuded Endothelium In Vivo and Ex Vivo

Abstract

PECAM is an important modulator of platelet adhesion/aggregation at sites of minor endothelial damage in brain arterioles. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that PECAM sites on the endothelium are involved and may be exposed by the injury to promote adhesion/aggregation. Since the endothelial cell layer is intact at these sites, mechanisms such as this offer important alternatives to the more commonly studied pathways of platelet activation, which require exposure of collagen and are not applicable in this model.