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Ever since 1959, when Bettex-Galland and Luscher first demonstrated the presence of the contractile proteins actin and myosin in platelets (Bettex-Galland and Luscher, 1959), it has been assumed that these proteins function in the responses of platelets to stimulation. The observation that the filopodia of stimulated platelets contain bundles of actin filaments (Nachmias, 1980; White, 1968; Zucker-Franklin et al., 1967) suggested a role for contractile proteins in filopodia extension, whereas studies showing a ring of microfilaments surrounding the granules in activated platelets (White, 1974) indicated that secretion involves a contractile process. Other responses, such as the condensation of platelet aggregates and the retraction of fibrin clots, are even more obviously contractile in nature (Cohen et al., 1982; van Deurs and Behnke, 1980).

Platelet function is inhibited by agents that elevate intracellular cyclic AMP concentrations, presumably as a result of the cyclic AMP-stimulated phosphorylation of intracellular proteins. Polypeptides that become phosphorylated are of Mr = 250,000, Mr = 51.000 (P51), Mr = 36,000 (P36), Mr = 24,000 (P24), and Mr = 22.000 (P22). The Mr = 250,000 polypeptide is actin-binding protein, but the identity of the other polypeptides 1s unknown. In the present study, we identified the P24 polypeptide. Platelets were radiolabeled with [32P]P1 and then Incubated for 2-5 min in the presence or absence of 5 μM prostaglandin E1 (PGE1). The PGE1-induced phosphorylation of P24 was detected on autoradiograms of SDS-gels. Since P24 has been shown to be membrane-associated, its molecular weight was compared with those of known membrane proteins. P24 comigrated with the β-chain of purified GP Ib on reduced gels (Mr = 24,000) and also on nonreduced gels (when GP Ibβ is disulfide-linked to GP Ibα and migrates with Mr = 170,000). Like GP Ibβ, P24 was associated with actin filaments in Triton X-100 lysates. Both GP Ibβ and P24 were selectively associated with filaments of the membrane skeleton and were released from filaments when the Ca2+-dependent protease was active. Antibodies against GP Ib immunoprecipitated P24 from platelet lysates. Finally, exposure of Bernard-Soulier platelets (that lacked GP Ib) to PGE1 resulted in phosphorylation of actin-binding protein, P51, P36, and P22, but not P24. We conclude that P24 is GP Ibβ. To determine whether phosphorylation of GP Ibβ is responsible for the inhibitory effects of PGE1 on platelets, we compared the action of PGE1 on control platelets with that on Bernard-Soulier platelets. One of the ways in which PGE1 inhibits platelet activation is by inhibiting the polymerization of actin. While PGE1 inhibited actin polymerization in control platelets, it did not in Bernard-Soulier platelets. We conclude that GP Ibβ is phosphorylated by agents that elevate cyclic AMP and that phosphorylation of this glycoprotein results in inhibition of platelet function.

Platelets are know to have a cytoskeleton of actin filaments. We have presented evidence that they also have a membrane skeleton linked to the cytoskeletal filaments and that the membrane skeleton is linked to GP Ib-IX on the plasma membrane via actin-binding protein. In the current study, electron microscopy of thick (0.2 ym) epoxy sections was used to identify the distribution of GP lb. After various treatments, platelets were fixed and incubated with affinity-purified GP lb antibody and colloidal gold-labeled Protein-A. The entire cell surface was covered with a network of short intersecting chains of relatively evenly spaced gold particles. This was true of platelets in blood dripped directly from a vein into fixative, of washed discoid platelets, and of platelets activated by thrombin, ionophore, or cold under conditions in which aggregation did not occur. This pattern was not affected by the size of the gold label, the immunocytochemical protocol, or the fixative. The number of gold particles per cell was between 10,000 and 20,000, indicating a 1:1 ratio of label to GP lb. The distribution of GP lb was not affected by a level of cyto-chalasin B sufficient to disrupt the actin filaments of the platelet cytoskeleton. Proteolysis of actin-binding protein is known to be induced by treatment of platelets with dibucaine and by platelet activation (with either ionophore or thrombin) under conditions in which cell aggregation occurs. These same treatments caused GP lb to cluster. They also produced platelets with unstable membranes that vesiculated when the cells were subjected to shear force during centrifugation or osmotic-ally stressed during fixation. These studies show that both the distribution of GP lb and membrane stability are dependent upon the integrity of actin-binding protein and the membrane skeleton. In the high-shear environment of the blood vessel, the membrane skeleton and its linkage to GP Ib-IX and the cytoskeleton may be essential for proper platelet function.