Figure 2.

Effects of reactive oxygen species on the subcellular morphology of activated platelets. Human (a–c) as well as wild-type (WT) and CypD^−/− (KO) murine platelets (d–g) were activated by thrombin+convulxin in the presence or absence of ROS and examined with TEM. For each treatment regimen, 10–25 images were analysed. The cumulative area (TO) and number (n) of membrane-bearing organelles, as well as the total platelet cross-section area (TC) were measured and the normalised organelle area was calculated as TO/(n × TC) and interpreted as an indicator of individual organelle swelling (h). The typical key changes of the organelle area are exemplified by the size and shape of the membrane-bearing organelles of panels (a) and (b). Mean values and SE are shown, asterisk represents a difference significant at P < 0.05 according to a post-hoc Tukey test performed after ANOVA (separately for human and murine datasets). *a: P = 0.0003 *b: P = 0.0038. Scale bar = 500 nm.