OBJECTIVETo assess the significance of platelet activation in unstable angina pectoris (UA) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and to explore the relationship of clinical effect of Xuefu Zhuyu concentrated pill (XCP) in vivo and the serum pharmacological anti-platelet activating effect of XCP in vitro.

METHODSBy flow cytometry and special labelled antibodys to detect the whole blood platelet membranous glycoprotein CD62P and CD41/45 expressions in UA patients before and after XCP treatment, as well as those in peripheral blood of AMI rats before and after co-cultured with XCP containing serum from patients at 37 degrees C for 30 min.

RESULTSCD62P and CD41/45 expressions increased significantly in UA patients to 24.36 +/- 7.91% and 29.51 +/- 12.21% respectively. After effective treatment, they decreased to 19.57 +/- 7.22% and 20.87 +/- 8.73% respectively accompanied with increase of platelet adhesion and aggregation rate. The difference of CD62P before and after treatment was significant (P < 0.05). CD62P in blood of AMI rats was 39.73 +/- 12.36%, after being co-cultured with XCP containing serum from patients treated effectively, it reduced to 30.41 +/- 10.36% (P < 0.05), but after co-cultured with the serum from patients treated ineffectively, it showed less intervention effect (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONPlatelet was highly activated in UA patients and AMI rats. The consistency between clinical holistic effect of XCP and serum pharmacological effect of XCP in platelet activation inhibition reflects a good correlation between serum pharmacological effect of Chinese herbal medicine and its clinical holistic effect.