Effects of atrial natriuretic factor on human platelet function

We examined the hypothesis that atrial natriuretic factor (ANF), a substance with known vasorelaxant activities, shares with other vasodilators the property of inhibiting platelet function. Aggregation of citrated platelet-rich plasma (PRP) from 23 healthy volunteers induced by ADP, adrenaline, arachidonic acid, collagen, γ-thrombin, the endoperoxide analogue U-44069, serotonin, the calcium ionophore A-23187 or platelet aggregating factor was measured after incubation of PRP with ANF for 3 minutes at concentrations of 4 × 10^-9, 4 × 10^-8 and 4 × 10^-7M or vehicle as control. ANF decreased ADP-induced aggregation significantly (P-7M: 60.0±17.1%, mean±S.D., n=39) by a selective inhibitory effect on the secondary wave; neither aggregation by all other agents tested nor thromboxane B₂ generation induced by ADP and adrenaline was altered by incubation with ANF. Although ANF thus has detectable effects on ADP-induced platelet aggregation in vitro, these data suggest that ANF is unlikely to be a physiologically significant modulator of platelet function.