Summary
We examined the alteration of platelet aggregability in acute hyperglycemia during 75-gram oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT). Twenty subjects underwent 75-gram OGTT and venous blood samples were obtained before (0 min), 60, 120 and 180 min postload. Platelet aggregability shown as the number of small platelet aggregates was measured with a novel laser-light scattering (LS) method. Platelet aggregability increased in parallel with both glucose and immunoreactive insulin (IRI) levels. The number of mean small aggregates at 60 min (12.30 ± 1.10 × 104) was significantly higher than the one at 0 min (8.32 ± 0.88 × 104, p <0.001), 120 min (10.63 ± 0.98 × 104, p <0.05) and 180 min (8.28 ± 0.84 × 104, p <0.001) (mean ± SEM). Small aggregates correlated positively with plasma glucose levels at 60 min postload (r = 0.67, p = 0.001) while not with IRI. It might be important to suppress transient hyperglycemia for preventing the onset of acute coronary syndromes that could be closely related to platelet hyperaggregability.
Key words
Platelet aggregability - hyperglycemia - glucose tolerance test