Platelet precursors display bipolar behavior

Abstract

In this issue, Thon et al. (2010. J. Cell Biol. doi: 10.1083/ jcb.201006102) demonstrate that newly released platelets exhibit bipolar behavior, shifting back and forth between round cells and multibodied proplatelets (Thon et al., 2010). The authors define this intermediate as a preplatelet and, in doing so, shed new insight into the terminal steps of platelet maturation. © 2010 Schwertz and Weyrich.