Agonists and receptors responsible for the activation of blood platelets: a brief review

Abstract

Few fields of physiology have been so intensely studied in the past decade as the function of platelets. This interest is partly due to the increasing realization of the important role of platelets in the body, not only during hemostasis but in other physiological processes such as phagocytosis, inflammation, immunological reactions and interaction with tumor cells. Platelet activation is regulated by specific mechanisms, many of which are unknown.