How Does the Anticoagulant Citrate Work?
What is Coagulation? Coagulation is a series of chemical reactions that allow blood to form clots, which helps organisms to repair damaged blood vessel walls. First, platelets are activated after the damage to the walls of the blood vessel causes a reaction that binds subendothelium proteins like collagen to bind with glycoprotein. When the platelets are activated, they release stored granules into the plasma of the blood which include serotonin, ADP, vWF, platelet factor 4, platelet-activating factor (PAF) and thromboxane A2 (TXA2). The contents of these granules activate other platelets and they begin a protein receptor cascade causing an increased calcium concentration in the cytosol of the platelets. This calcium will be a major factor in the use of the anticoagulant citrate. Calcium activates a series of proteins that in turn activate an increased ability of the glycoprotein to bind fibrinogen. Platelets begin coming together. A series of reactions begin as the two phases of the c
