The women were randomly assigned to receive either 100 mg of aspirin a day or no aspirin. Over five years of follow-up, aspirin use was found to lower heart attack risk by 47 percent, and mini-stroke (transient ischemic attack) risk by 43 percent. Aspirin did not reduce the risk of larger or persistent strokes from clots or brain bleeds.
Platelet ADP release (Table 3 Table 3 Platelet Size, Nucleotides and ADP Release. ). The patients' platelets released less ADP when incubated with kaolin or when stirred with connective tissue than normal platelets did.
Platelets are held within these internal membranes within the cytoplasm of megakaryocytes. There are two proposed mechanisms for platelet release. In one scenario, these proto-platelet processes break up explosively to become platelets. Alternatively, the cell may form platelet ribbons into blood vessels. The ribbons are formed via pseudopodia and they are able to continuously emit platelets into circulation. In either scenario, each of these proto-platelet processes can give rise to 2000-5000 new platelets upon breakup.