When platelet numbers are low or when their function is disabled, the risk of bleeding is
high, which on the one hand indicates that in normal life vascular damage is a rather
common event and that hence the role of platelets in maintaining a normal hemostasis is a
continuously ongoing physiological process. Upon vascular injury, platelets instantly adhere
to the exposed extracellular matrix resulting in platelet activation and aggregation to form a
hemostatic plug. This self-amplifying mechanism nevertheless requires a tight control to …