Summary
Induction of atherosclerosis in rabbits by feeding a cholesterol enriched diet reduced
the platelet half-life in male rabbits from 37.0 ± 4.1 hr to 30.1 ± 3.9 hr (mean ±
S.D. p ≤0.01). Platelets from these animals exhibited increased sensitivity to arachidonic
acid but decreased sensitivity to ADP. No significant change was found in aggregation
to collagen or thrombin, or in the production of thomboxane B2 induced by collagen.
The reduced platelet survival was dependent upon the recipient animal and not the
platelet donor. Platelets from cholesterol- fed animals survived normally in normal
animals, whereas platelets from normal animals in cholesterol-fed animals had a reduced
platelet survival even compared to platelets from cholesterol-fed animals. This might
suggest that some functional change had occurred in the cholesterol platelet in response
to its altered environment.
Anagrelide (1 mg/kg/day) normalised shortened platelet survival in both male and female
rabbits fed the high cholesterol diet.
Keywords
Heparin - Other mucopolysaccharides - Anticoagulation - Mode of action
