Atherosclerotic disease is a focal pathological event characterized by thic
kening and hardening of large arteries due to the accumulation of lipids, p
roteoglycans, blood and blood products, fibrous tissue and calcium deposits
. The formation of arterial thrombi appears to be a significant factor for
the occurrence of clinical acute complications in asymptomatic chronic athe
rosclerosis. The knowledge obtained on the mechanisms of platelet activatio
n, signal transduction, receptor binding, zymogen activation and function,
substrate recognition and adhesive events has been useful to design new int
ervention techniques with beneficial results and new highly promising strat
egies. it was initially thought that receptors were only involved in bindin
g functions, but they have also been shown to be important factors in the t
ransduction of information from the extracellular compartment to the inside
of the cell, and that they partly control cell function, structure, prolif
eration and differentiation. The availability of monoclonal antibodies and
the molecular biology techniques applied to the fields of thrombosis, and t
he interaction between blood cells and the vascular wall will provide tools
to explore specific pathways of cell activation and interaction between ce
lls. These studies, together with those aimed at finding the main agonists
and substrates triggering and perpetuating an event, will be helpful to est
ablish strategies for treatment and prevention of clinical events and to re
duce the associated morbidity and mortality. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger A
G. Basel.