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Abstract
Secretion is essential to many of the roles that platelets play in the vasculature, e.g., thrombosis, angiogenesis, and inflammation, enabling platelets to modulate the microenvironment at sites of vascular lesions with a myriad of bioactive molecules stored in their granules. Past studies demonstrate that granule cargo release is mediated by Soluble NSF Attachment Protein Receptor (SNARE) proteins, which are required for granule-plasma membrane fusion. Several SNARE regulators, which control when, where, and how the SNAREs interact, have been identified in platelets. Additionally, platelet SNAREs are controlled by post-translational modifications, e.g., phosphorylation and acylation. Although there have been many recent insights into the mechanisms of platelet secretion, many questions remain: have we identified all the important regulators, does calcium directly control the process, and is platelet secretion polarized. In this review, we focus on the mechanics of platelet secretion and discuss how the secretory machinery functions in the pathway leading to membrane fusion and cargo release.
Acknowledgments
The authors are immensely grateful to members of the Whiteheart laboratory: Dr. Jinchao Zhang, Meenakshi Banerjee, Alfonso Pepe, Lucy W. Sandmeyer, Thirushan Wignakumar, and Patrick Thompson, for their careful reading of this manuscript and their helpful comments.
Funding
This work is supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) HL56652 and by American Heart Association 16GRNT27620001 (to SWW) and American Heart Association predoctoral fellowship 15PRE25550020 (to SJ).
Declaration of interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.