Grant: Project Grant

Platelets are tiny blood elements very abundant in the blood vessels. Their main known role is the prevention of bleedings. Our work and the work of others show that platelets are also involved in arthritis. We found that white blood cells, known as neutrophils, are implicated in the perception of pain in a mouse model of arthritis. To promote pain, neutrophils must leave the blood vessels and invade the joint. We believe that platelets are important in this process, and help neutrophils to quit the blood vessels to reach the arthritic joint where they mediate pain. We will examine the blood of patients and will use special microscopes to look at platelets and neutrophil interactions in a mouse model of arthritis. We will block the interactions between platelets and neutrophils and will quantify pain in mice. We may thus identify how to interfere in this process to reduce pain.