AUTHOR=Lowery Curtis Lee , Woulfe Donna , Kilic Fusun 

TITLE=Responses of Plasma Catecholamine, Serotonin, and the Platelet Serotonin Transporter to Cigarette Smoking

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2019

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2019.00032

DOI=10.3389/fnins.2019.00032

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=Thirty percent of all deaths from coronary heart disease in the US are attributable to cigarette smoking.  Cigarette smoking produces central nervous system-mediated activation of the sympathetic nervous system, which stimulates secretion of serotonin (5-HT) and catecholamines to supraphysiological levels in blood. The enhanced levels of 5-HT and catecholamines in smokers’ blood are associated with increases in G protein-coupled receptors signaling and serotonylation of small GTPases, which in turn lead to remodeling of cytoskeletal elements to enhance granule secretion and promote unique expression of sialylated N-glycan structures on smokers’ platelets.  These mechanisms enhance aggregation and adhesion of smokers’ platelets relative to those of non-smokers.  This review focuses on the known mechanisms by which 5-HT and the coordinate signaling of catecholamines impacts cigarette smokers’ platelet biology.