Enzymes that hydrolyze adenine nucleotides in patients with ischemic heart disease

The extracellular nucleotides, ATP and ADP, as well as the nucleoside adenosine have been implicated in a great number of pathologic and physiological functions. However, extracellular adenine nucleotide levels are controlled by a complex cell surface-located group of enzymes called ectonucleotidases. We evaluated activities of enzymes that hydrolyze adenine nucleotides and nucleosides in platelets from patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD).Sixty IHD patients were selected for the study. The activities of ectonucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase (NTPDase, CD39), ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase (E-NPP), ecto-5'-nucleotidase and adenosine deaminase (ADA) were studied in isolated platelets of these patients, as well as the platelet aggregation and NTPDase expression.The results show that NTPDase, ecto-5'-nucleotidase, E-NPP activities and NTPDase expression were increased in platelets of IHD patients when compared with the control group (p0.05). On the other hand, ADA activity and platelet aggregation were decreased in IHD patients, when compared with the control group (p0.05).The pathological condition in IHD generates alterations in ectonucleotidase activities as a compensatory organic response to thrombotic events that occur in IHD.