Effect of the esters of gallic acid on model and human blood platelet membranes studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.

Gallic acid is one of the components of Chinese herbal drug Radix paeoniae used for promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis. This paper studied the effects of gallic acid and its esters (e.g. ethyl, propyl, isobutyl and butyl gallate) on model and human blood platelet membranes by FTIR which was used for monitoring the physical state of the acyl chain, interfacial and head group region of the membrane lipid bilayer. From the experimental results it can be seen that the gallic acid and its esters have the modifying function on the pure and cholesterol-containing DPPC model membranes, and have the quantity-effective and structural-effective relationships. In addition, it is discovered that these esters have the modifying effect on the structure of human blood platelet membrane and can reverse the effect of ADP. That the effect of the esters of gallic acid counteracts the effect of cholesterol and ADP on human blood platelet perhaps provides a new explanation of the mechanism of Chinese herbal drugs used for promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis.