In addition to maintaining hemostasis, platelets have an important role in modulating innate and adaptive immune responses. A low platelet count has been found to be a negative prognostic factor for survival in humans and horses with critical illnesses, such as sepsis or systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). Decreased platelet aggregation, caused by in vivo activation, has been found in human patients with severe sepsis. In our prospective controlled study, we assessed platelet biology in blood samples from 20 equine SIRS cases and 120 healthy control horses. Platelet variables such as platelet count, large platelet count, clumps, plateletcrit, mean platelet volume, and mean platelet component concentration were analyzed by laser flow cytometry (Advia 2120) from K₃EDTA blood and from citrate blood. Hirudin blood samples were analyzed by impedance aggregometry (Multiplate analyzer; Roche) for platelet aggregation, including spontaneous aggregation and aggregation by 4 different agonists: adenosine diphosphate (ADPtest), ADP + prostaglandin E1 (ADPtestHS), arachidonic acid (ASPItest), and collagen (COLtest). SIRS cases had significantly lower platelet counts in K₃EDTA blood (p < 0.0001) compared to control horses. There were no significant differences in aggregation values between SIRS cases and controls. Non-surviving SIRS horses did not have statistically significant lower platelet counts or lower aggregation values for COLtest, ADPtest, or ADPtestHS compared to surviving SIRS horses, although 5 non-survivors were thrombocytopenic.

除维持止血外，血小板在调节先天和适应性免疫应答中也起着重要作用。已发现低血小板计数是患有严重疾病（如败血症或全身性炎症反应综合征（SIRS））的人和马生存的不良预后因素。在患有严重脓毒症的人类患者中发现了由体内活化引起的血小板聚集减少。在我们的前瞻性对照研究中，我们评估了20例马SIRS病例和120例健康对照马的血液样本中的血小板生物学。通过激光流式细胞术（Advia 2120）从K ₃中分析血小板变量，例如血小板计数，大血小板计数，团块，血小板凝集，平均血小板体积和平均血小板成分浓度。EDTA血和柠檬酸盐血。水rud素血样通过阻抗聚集法（Multiplate Analyzer; Roche）进行血小板聚集分析，包括自发聚集和聚集，通过4种不同的激动剂：二磷酸腺苷（ADPtest），ADP +前列腺素E1（ADPtestHS），花生四烯酸（ASPItest）和胶原蛋白（COLtest）。与对照组相比，SIRS病例的K ₃ EDTA血液中的血小板计数明显降低（p <0.0001）。SIRS病例与对照组之间的聚集值没有显着差异。与5个非存活者相比，非存活SIRS马的COLtest，ADPtest或ADPtestHS的血小板计数或聚集值均无统计学意义，尽管5个非存活者是血小板减少性的。