Effects of nitrite and far-red light on coagulation

Nitric oxide, NO, has been explored as a therapeutic agent to treat thrombosis. In particular, NO has potential in treating mechanical device-associated thrombosis due to its ability to reduce platelet activation and due to the central role of platelet activation and adhesion in device thrombosis. Nitrite is a unique NO donor that reduces platelet activation in that it’s activity requires the presence of red blood cells whereas NO activity of other NO donors is blunted by red blood cells. Interestingly, we have previously shown that red blood cell mediated inhibition of platelet activation by adenosine diphosophate (ADP) is dramatically enhanced by illumination with far-red light that is likely due to photolysis of red cell surface bound NO congeners. We now report the effects of nitrite, far-red light, and their combination on several measure of blood coagulation using a variety of agonists. We employed turbidity assays in platelet rich plasma, platelet activation using flow cytometry analysis of a fluorescently labeled antibody to the activated platelet fibrinogen binding site, multiplate impedance-based platelet aggregometry, and assessment of platelet adhesion to collagen coated flow-through microslides. In all cases, the combination of far-red light and nitrite treatment decreased measures of coagulation, but in some cases mono-treatment with nitrite or light alone had no effect. Perhaps most relevant to device thrombosis, we observed that platelet adhesions was inhibited by the combination of nitrite and light treatment while nitrite alone and far-red light alone trended to decrease adhesion, but the results were mixed. These results support the potential of combined far-red light and nitrite treatment for preventing thrombosis in extra-corporeal or shallow-tissue depth devices where the far-red light can penetrate. Such a combined treatment could be advantageous due to the localized treatment afforded by far-red light illumination with minimal systemic effects. Given the role of thrombosis in COVID 19, application to treatment of patients infected with SARS Cov-2 might also be considered.