Representative flow cytometry profiles showing preferential platelet-bacterial adherence in intact whole human blood.

(A–C) Whole blood (WB) in PBS. (D–F) Two antibodies, CD235a-FITC and CD41a-APC, were added to WB. (G–I) DL1-Cy3 incubated with CD235a-FITC and CD41a-APC: (G) DL1-Cy3 also appears in Q4 in the FSC/SSC plot, the same as platelets. (J–L) DL1-Cy3, CD235a-FITC and CD41a-APC were added to WB: (J) Platelets/bacteria are gated as R1 and RBCs/WBCs as R2. (K) Events from gate R1. (L) Events from gate R2. Bacteria preferentially recognize platelets compared to RBCs. (M–O) DL1Δhsa-Cy3, CD235a-FITC and CD41a-APC were added to WB: (N) Events from gate R3, and DL1Δhsa-Cy3 bound platelets are drastically reduced compared to DL1-Cy3 bound platelets. (O) Events from gate R4. Blood samples from multiple donors were tested and consistent results were obtained.