Platelets and Microtubules

Microtubules in Hamster Platelets

The increasing frequency with which microtubules are observed in electron micrographs of many cell types has led to much speculation about the possible structural and functional significance of these cytoplasmic elements. Two basic interpretations have been made: that they serve as cytoskeletal elements has been suggested by the work of many investigators (3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 12, 16-18); that they ...

Cytoplasmic microtubules in blood platelets.

Isolation of Circumferential Microtubules From Platelets Without

Circumferential bands of microtubules (MT) support the discoid shape of resting platelets and participate with the contractile apparatus in shape change and internal contraction following activation. Elucidation of interactions between the circumferential coils and proteins of the stable and contractile cytoskeleton is essential for understanding MT function in platelet physiology. A previous i...

Incomplete Microtubules Observed in Mammalian Blood Platelets during Microtubule Polymerization

and 0°C. In both cases the process was reversible (1), 1 the microtubules reappearing when the cold treatment was discontinued. This work deals with the cytoplasmic microtubules in mammalian blood platelets. Unlike the microtubules of the axial filament complex of cilia and flagella, these microtubules are properly preserved only by glutaraldehyde fixation. In platelets the microtubules are arr...

Dynamic Simulation and Mechanical Properties of Microtubules

This work is conducted to obtain mechanical properties of microtubule. For this aim, interaction energy in alpha-beta, beta-alpha, alpha-alpha, and beta-beta dimers was calculated using the molecular dynamic simulation. Force-distance diagrams for these dimers were obtained using the relation between potential energy and force. Afterwards, instead of each tubulin, one sphere with 55 KDa weight ...