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Download Motor-driven marginal band coiling promotes cell shape change
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Motor-driven marginal band coiling promotes cell shape change during platelet activation Boubou Diagouraga, Alexei Grichine, Arnold Fertin, Jin Wang, Saadi Khochbin and Karin Sadoul Blood platelets are small discoid cell fragments. They circulate in the blood stream to survey vascular integrity. In case of injury they activate to stop blood loss. Platelet activation is composed of several successive events. They adhere to the damaged vessel wall and rapidly change shape to become spheres with several filopodial extensions. Then they secrete substances to activate surrounding platelets, which aggregate to form a haemostatic plug. Their discoid resting shape is maintained by the cytoskeleton, which forms a peripheral ring composed of several microtubules, called marginal band. It was assumed that in case of activation the marginal band contracts to form a smaller ring thereby allowing the platelet to adopt a spherical shape. However, a recent study has shown that, following an activation signal, molecular motors extend the marginal band. The limited available space forces the marginal band to coil, which imposes a spherical shape on the activating platelet. This study has changed the current view of the platelet activation mechanism and may point to new directions for therapeutic strategies able to modify platelet function in bleeding or thrombotic disorders. J Cell Biol. 2014 Jan 20;204(2):177-85. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201306085. More information: http://youtu.be/A94PmNCrzRg
