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Hello, everybody. My name
is Gian Luca Salvagno.
I am a full professor of
clinical biochemistry at
the University of Verona.
My training, I am a medical
doctor with a specialization in
clinical chemistry and a
PhD in laboratory medicine.
We discuss about the laboratory
assessment of coagulation.
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In Slide 2, we describe today
the clinical laboratory
evaluation of hemostasis.
In hemostasis, it's
really important to
remember that we have
several aspects.
First of all, we have
endothelial cells,
platelets, and
coagulation factors.
We have endothelial
cells because
endothelial cells
produce a lot of
important proteins
and other molecules
that are really important
to start coagulation.
Endothelial cells also inside,
we have some kind
of organelle that
we have von Willebrand
factor inside.
Also, endothelial cells are
a source of tissue factors.
Tissue factors are really
important to start coagulation,
and are the most important part
to evaluate the hemostasis.
Platelets, instead, we have
this kind of little particle.
Their name is thrombocytes
or platelets.
They are not cells.
They're derived from
cells in the bone marrow.
Their name is megakaryocytes.
Platelets are really
important because they are
the key factor to start
hemostasis in the patient.
Platelets are important because
they are a source
of phospholipids.
When we have the
starting situation
of coagulation factors,
platelets produce because
platelets inside have
a lot of organelles that
have some kind of
coagulation factor.
But moreover, they have
some kind of agonist,
for example, ADP and calcium.
What is really interesting
is that calcium in humans
has two names, calcium,
but also in hemostasis is known
as coagulation factor IV.
Platelets are important
because they are the surface
where the coagulation
factors start to
work to produce fibrin finally.
Platelets also have
a lot of receptors.
We have a lot of receptors
on the platelets,
for example, receptors
for thrombin,
receptor for ADP, but also,
platelets have receptors
for fibrinogen,
receptors for von
Willebrand factor.
Platelets are the key
components to start
the formation of
hemostasis and thrombosis.
What is important to remember
is that the platelets
are, in the whole
blood we have, around
from 120000 to 400000
platelets per microliter.
When we have a low
count of platelets,
we have a situation, the
name is thrombocytopenia.
On the other hand, when we
have too much platelets,
the name is thrombocythemia.
Coagulation factor is
absolutely a key component,
because, in the whole blood,
we have 13 different
kinds of factors.
