Effects of β-lactam antibiotics on platelet function

Abstract

This report concerns the fact that the postmortem level of histamine in blood was unchanged in guinea pigs (GP) that they died of antibody reaction the cefaclor (CCL)-human serum albumin (HSA) conjugates or cephalexin (CEX)-HSA during anaphylactic shock. In order to analyze this result, we studied how antibiotics affect platelets activated by platelet activating factor (PAF), as platelets are major source of histamine in GP blood. When PAF (1.5×10^-7M) reacts to platelets histamine is released and platelet aggregation is induced, CCL and CEX (1mM or 10mM) blocked histamine release but did not block platelet aggregation. From these results, it was suggested that the release of histamine from platelets was blocked by CCL and CEX, and therefore, the level of histamine did not increase during anaphylactic shock.