Blood platelets commonly called megakaryocytes are one of the three tiny cellular components of the blood which helps in the stoppage of bleeding.. Other cellular components of blood are the red blood cells and white blood cells. All the cellular components bathe in the plasma.

Nearly half a billion blood platelets are being formed in the bone marrow every day. These play a primary role in the formation of blood clot. Here I would like to define the two common terms related to the platelet plug formation when the blood vessel in injured.

*  Adhesion means sticking of blood platelets with the wall of the bleeding vessel.

*  Aggregation means sticking of the platelets with each other.

Normally, in the circulating blood, platelets keep on flowing without any adhesion or aggregation. However, injury to the wall of blood vessel is the point when blood platelets start clinging to the injured part of the vessel wall. At the same time the platelets aggregate with one another and completely seal the opening which helps in arresting the bleeding from the specific site. We call these aggregates as ‘haemostatic plugs’.

Blood platelets can also be activated in the presence of atherosclerosis where the disease itself damages the intimal layer of the blood vessel. So, platelets cling to this damaged layer of the vessel wall and results in the formation of platelet plug by the process of adhesion and aggregation. Eventually thrombus is formed when the coagulation factors come into play. So, blood platelets are responsible for most of the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events occurring in the human body.

Anti platelets drugs are used as blood thinners in the high risk patients. Their basic role is to decrease the activity of the platelets in the circulating blood.

While using anti platelet drugs, role of Impact-R cannot be ignored because it monitors the response to the anti platelet drugs with high accuracy and is very sensitive in all such tests. So, over treatment or under treatment can be easily detected and dealt with accordingly. Presently it is being used for the research purposes but can be used clinically also.

To download the Impact R machine brochure, please click on the link below:

Matis Impact R Machine brochure

To download the Impact R test Kit brochure and assay procedure click on the link below:

brochure test kit Diamed Impact R

To order online click: 2Checkout

Presentation of the Impact R Con and Plate usage procedure

Presentation of the Impact R Video Assay Procedure

Please click on the link above and watch this step by step 17 minutes video that explains how to use the standard Impact R test procedure

Impact R Workstation

The laminar flow over the polystyrene surface of the well is achieved according to the cone and plate principal. The device can also give indication for patient response to drugs such as Aspirin or Plavix®.

Upon application of a blood sample (130 u l) into the polystyrene well, plasma proteins immediately adhere to the well surface and attract for platelets, resulting in platelet adhesion and aggregation on the well surface under flow conditions. Following removal by washing of the excess blood and staining of adhered platelets, a count of the results is performed by an image analyzer.

The results are expressed as the percentage of the well surface covered by platelets aggregates (percentage SC) representing platelet adhesion and the average size of the aggregates (AS in u m2) representing platelet aggregation.

The Impact-R (cat. no. 866004V) can also be used for the study of platelet function, screening of primary hemostasis abnormalities including thrombocytopenia and monitoring their therapies. It can be used for testing both hypo- and hyper-function of platelets. Furthermore, it provides a quick method for monitoring the response to various anti platelet drugs.

The price of one Impact R kit is 371 EUR (517 USD) including shipping in worldwide via FEDEX. The kit do not include the May Grünwald staining solution which you may use from old kits if you still have or order from www.vwr.com which ships worldwide. Each kit contains 50 cones and 50 wells and 55 pipette tips.

To order online click: 2Checkout

Impact R Test Kit 866050V

Impact RHS, Impact RP, Impact RS

We have recently developed:

Impact RS : For very low shear rate research 25 s-1 and up to 400 s-1

Impact RHS: For very High Shear rate 1930 s-1 to 13 000 s-1

Impact RP: The first Cone & Plate Analyzer that mimics the heart beat.

If you want information on these great and exciting new developpments, please let us know!