Flow cytometric kinetic assay of calcium mobilization in whole blood platelets using Fluo-3 and CD41

Background: Platelet activation plays a major role in the physiology and pathology of hemostasis. Flow cytometry is a promising approach for the structural and functional analysis of platelets. However, the choice of adequate biological parameters and most technical issues are still under discussion. A rise in cytosolic free Ca 21 is a key early event that follows platelet stimulation and precedes several activation responses, including shape change, aggregation, secretion, and expression of procoagulant activity. Our objective was to set up a fast and sensitive flow cytometric method to determine the kinetics of intracellular Ca 21 mobilization in platelets, which could be performed with t…