The sGC stimulator riociguat inhibits platelet function in washed platelets but not in whole blood.

ABSTRACT:

Background and purpose

Stimulation of soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) is a valuable therapeutic strategy for the treatment of several cardiovascular diseases. The sGC stimulator riociguat has been approved for the treatment of two forms of pulmonary hypertension. Platelets contain large amounts of sGC and play a key role in the regulation of haemostasis. Therefore, we investigated the effects of riociguat on platelet function.

Experimental approach

The effect of riociguat treatment on human platelet activation and aggregation was investigated. The sGC-specific effects of riociguat were determined by comparing wild-type and platelet-specific sGC-knockout mice.

Key results

Riociguat induced cGMP synthesis and subsequent PKG activation in human platelets, suggesting that

SUBMITTER: Reiss C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4687809 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature