A tip of the cap to procoagulant platelets

Abstract

In this issue of Blood, Podoplelova et al reveal how structural features of procoagulant platelets, generated in response to strong agonists, eg, thrombin and collagen-related peptides, provide an extensively folded surface area for the membrane-dependent assembly of tenase and prothrombinase complexes and subsequent thrombin generation.1 In brief, the structural features of a small, specialized region of the surface of procoagulant platelets, termed the "cap," likely contribute strongly to localized amplification of coagulation in thrombosis.