Abstract

Secretion is essential to many of the roles that platelets play in the vasculature, e.g., thrombosis, angiogenesis, and inflammation, enabling platelets to modulate the microenvironment at sites of vascular lesions with a myriad of bioactive molecules stored in their granules. Past studies demonstrate that granule cargo release is mediated by Soluble NSF Attachment Protein Receptor (SNARE) proteins, which are required for granule-plasma membrane fusion. Several SNARE regulators, which control when, where, and how the SNAREs interact, have been identified in platelets. Additionally, platelet SNAREs are controlled by post-translational modifications, e.g., phosphorylation and acylation. Although there have been many recent insights into the mechanisms of platelet secretion, many questions remain: have we identified all the important regulators, does calcium directly control the process, and is platelet secretion polarized. In this review, we focus on the mechanics of platelet secretion and discuss how the secretory machinery functions in the pathway leading to membrane fusion and cargo release.

Document Type

Review

Publication Date

11-16-2016

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Platelets, v. 28, issue 2, p. 129-137.

© 2016 Taylor & Francis

The copyright holder has granted the permission for posting the article here.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Platelets on 16 Nov 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09537104.2016.1240768.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1080/09537104.2016.1240768

Funding Information

This work is supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) HL56652 and by American Heart Association 16GRNT27620001 (to SWW) and American Heart Association predoctoral fellowship 15PRE25550020 (to SJ).

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