Do platelets help to repair the heart after a heart attack?

Platelet secretion: Control mechanisms and role in thrombosis, cardiac damage and repair (renewal)

Professor Alastair Poole and his team at the University of Bristol are investigating cells in the blood called platelets, which may help repair the heart after a heart attack. Platelets are important in blood clotting, which protects the body from bleeding. But when a clot blocks the arteries supplying the heart, it can lead to a heart attack. Anti-clotting drugs aspirin and clopidogrel are used to prevent further heart attacks by targeting platelets. But platelets also release several molecules that may be important in heart tissue repair and regeneration after injury, and as the clot causing the heart attack is full of platelets, these tiny cells are in a perfect position to be involved in heart repair. Professor Poole has found that platelets carefully control and release the molecules that initially promote blood clotting, before subsequently promoting heart tissue survival and cell regeneration to repair the heart after a heart attack. In this project, he wants to understand the machinery platelets use to secrete these different molecules and how it is controlled. Understanding how platelets help to control heart repair after a heart attack may reveal new ways to control platelets, and may help doctors decide how to use existing anti-platelet drugs better.