❤️ Cardiovascular🟢 BasicPharmacology of Thrombosis

Aspirin and Antiplatelet Drugs

Drugs that make platelets less sticky to prevent the clots that cause heart attacks and strokes.

Key points

Platelets clump to form clots, so antiplatelet drugs reduce clot formation in the arteries, where blood flows fast.
Aspirin irreversibly blocks the enzyme cyclo-oxygenase in platelets, stopping them making thromboxane, a signal for clumping.
Because platelets cannot make new enzyme, a single exposure to aspirin affects them for their whole lifespan of about a week.
Clopidogrel and similar drugs block the platelet ADP receptor, and are often combined with aspirin after a stent is placed.
The main harm of antiplatelet drugs is bleeding, especially from the stomach and the gut.

Memory trick

Antiplatelets stop artery clots; aspirin irreversibly blocks cyclo-oxygenase, so no thromboxane (lasting the platelet's week-long life); clopidogrel blocks the ADP receptor; the main harm is bleeding.

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❤️ Cardiovascular🟢 BasicPharmacology of Thrombosis

Aspirin and Antiplatelet Drugs

Drugs that make platelets less sticky to prevent the clots that cause heart attacks and strokes.

Key points

Platelets clump to form clots, so antiplatelet drugs reduce clot formation in the arteries, where blood flows fast.
Aspirin irreversibly blocks the enzyme cyclo-oxygenase in platelets, stopping them making thromboxane, a signal for clumping.
Because platelets cannot make new enzyme, a single exposure to aspirin affects them for their whole lifespan of about a week.
Clopidogrel and similar drugs block the platelet ADP receptor, and are often combined with aspirin after a stent is placed.
The main harm of antiplatelet drugs is bleeding, especially from the stomach and the gut.

Memory trick

All of Pharmacology More Cardiovascular