Effects of a Circulating Factor in Patients with Essential Hypertension on Intracellular Free Calcium in Normal Platelets

Abstract

Intracellular free (cytosolic) calcium has been reported to be increased in the platelets of patients with essential hypertension. We investigated the possibility that the high cytosolic calcium concentration may be caused by a circulating plasma factor, by incubating platelets from normotensive subjects with plasma ultrafiltrates from patients with essential hypertension. The cytosolic calcium concentration in normal platelets increased after incubation with plasma from patients with untreated hypertension (80±15 percent [±SEM]) or from patients in whom hypertension was well controlled by calcium-influx blockers (129±33 percent). In contrast, the cytosolic calcium concentration was unchanged after incubation with plasma from normotensive subjects. When platelets from the patients were incubated with plasma from the controls, cytosolic calcium in platelets decreased by more than 30 percent, into the normal range (P<0.01).