Receptors Biology and Functions

Beate Kehrel, Ph.D. Experimental and Clinical Haemostaseology Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine University of Muenster D-48149 Muenster, Germany 

When a blood vessel wall is damaged, platelets are exposed to a variety of activating agents including collagen. The adhesion of platelets to vascular subendothelium is a 

Beate Kehrel studied biology and chemistry at the University of Muenster. After her Ph. D., die studied medicine and started her scientific career at the Institute for Arteriosclerosis Research in Muenster., where she came in-now 15 years ago-into initial contact with her main field of research., the interaction of platelets and extracellular matrix, especially collagen. After woridng for 12 years on thrombocytopathias in the Department of hitemal Medicine at the University of Muenster, she is now Head of the Laboratoriesfor Experimental and Clinical Haemostaseology in the Department of Anaesthesiology. 

Platelet/collagen adhesion can be classified into two categories primary adhesion and secondary re orcing adhesion. Primary adhesion can be categorised into divalent cation-independent and Mg -dependent adhesion. 

Monomeric and fibrillar collagens effectively support platelet adhesion, whereas the native, triple-helical structure of collagen and the polymerisation of the monomeric collagen are required for collagen-induced platelet aggregation and secretion . 

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Human cells contain an intracellular protein whose properties resemble those of the Ah receptor in animals. Binding studies and hydrodynamic analyses have identified an Ah receptor-like protein(s) in a variety of human tissues. Functional Ah receptors have been found in many human tissues, including lymphocytes, liver, lung, and placenta. By analogy with the existence of multiple receptor forms in mice, it is reasonable to anticipate that the human population will also be polymorphic with respect to Ah receptor structure and function [170]. Therefore, it is also reasonable to expect that humans may differ from one another in their susceptibilities to TCDD. The binding and hydrodynamic properties of the Ah receptor differ relatively little across species and tissues yet responses vary widely it is impossible, therefore, to account for the diversity of TCDD s biological effects by characteristics of the receptor alone. 

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