Abstract
Twelve healthy young male volunteers, mean age twenty-five, range twenty-one to thirty years, and 12 healthy middle-aged male volunteers mean age fifty-eight, range forty- four to seventy-two years, were tested regarding platelet aggregation induced by adenosine diphosphate and fibrinolytic activity, estimated as euglobulin clot lysis time (ECLT), tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA), and the fast-acting inhibitor against t-PA normally referred to as (PAI-1).
Platelet aggregation increased significantly in the middle-aged group as compared with the young, as shown by a decrease in ADP thresholds for irreversible aggregation (P < 0.01). In healthy young volunteers, vigorous cycling exercise by itself caused platelet aggregability to decrease (P < 0.05). Such changes were not observed in the elderly. Fibrinolytic activity decreased significantly in the middle-aged group as shown by a prolongation of the ECLT (P < 0.01) and PAI-1, although not significantly, increased by approximately 100%, whereas t-PA significantly increased in the middle-aged group (P < 0.01).
The present results suggest that increasing age is associated with not only increased platelet aggregability but also decreased fibrinolytic activity.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.