Rabbit Platelets do not Express Fc Receptors for IgG

Human platelets are activated by IgG immune complexes and undergo platelet aggregation and the release of granular contents. Recently, the receptor for IgG on human platelets has been identified and characterised. In contrast, it is not known if rabbit platelets carry Fc receptors. In this report we describe investigations to detect the presence of an Fc receptor on rabbit platelets. The Fc receptor was investigated using functional assays (platelet aggregation and (14)C-serotonin release), a direct binding assay, and an affinity precipitation assay. All of these methods gave consistently positive results using human platelets and consistently negative results using rabbit platelets, indicating that rabbit platelets do not carry Fc receptors. This inconsistency in the interactions of immune complexes with rabbit and human platelets indicates that rabbits are not ideal models for studying a number of human diseases that could be caused by immune complexes, including heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and certain immunological disorders such as systemic lupus erythematosus.