Previous heat shock treatment attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced hyporesponsiveness of platelets in rats.

Several studies demonstrated that previous heat shock treatment caused expression of heat shock proteins (HSPs) and reduced organ dysfunction and mortality in experimentally induced severe sepsis. However, the protective mechanism on platelet function remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of heat shock treatment on platelet aggregation ex vivo in endotoxin-induced rats with sepsis. Rats of the heated group were heated by whole-body hyperthermia 18 h before lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection. Blood samples were obtained from the carotid artery 90 min after LPS injection. Platelet aggregation ability was measured by aggregometer. Results revealed that platelet aggregation ex vivo was significantly inhibited in LPS-induced rats in a manner of dose dependence. Previous heat shock treatment caused overexpression of HSPs and significantly attenuated the LPS-induced platelet hyporesponsiveness. This attenuation disappeared in accordance with absence of HSP72 at 7 days after heat shock treatment. Aggregation of normal platelets was also inhibited by incubating with plasma obtained from endotoxemic rats but not from preheated endotoxemic rats. Furthermore, no significant hyporesponsiveness was found in endotoxemic platelets in addition to preheated endotoxemic plasma. The addition of H2O2 scavenger catalase diminished the platelet hyporesponsiveness significantly only in nonheated endotoxemic rats. Moreover, the plasma nitrite and nitrate levels were significantly attenuated in preheated endotoxemic rats. These results revealed that previous heat shock treatment might attenuate LPS-induced hyporesponsiveness of platelets by changing the plasma components possibly through altering H2O2 and nitric oxide concentrations.