Western Diet Modifies Platelet Activation Profiles in Male Mice

The correlation between obesity and cardiovascular disease has long been understood, yet scant investigations endeavored to determine the impact of an obesogenic diet on platelet activation or function. As platelets drive clot formation, the terminus of cardiovascular events, we aimed to elucidate the longitudinal effect of an obesogenic diet on platelet phenotype by assessing markers of platelet activation using flow cytometry. Male, weanling mice were fed either a Western diet (30% kcal sucrose, 40% kcal fat, 8.0% sodium) or Control diet (7% kcal sucrose, 10% kcal fat, 0.24% sodium). At 12, 16 and 20 weeks on diets, platelets were collected and stained to visualize glycoprotein Ibα (GPIbα), P-selectin and the conformationally active state of α_IIbβ₃ (a platelet specific integrin) after collagen stimulation. At all time points, a Western diet reduced GPIbα and α_IIbβ₃ expression in platelets broadly while P-selectin levels were unaffected. However, P-selectin was diminished by a Western diet in the GPIbα^- subpopulation. Thus, a Western diet persistently primed platelets towards a blunted activation response as indicated by reduced active α_IIbβ₃ and P-selectin surface expression. This study provides a first look at the influence of diet on platelet activation and revealed that platelet activation is susceptible to dietary intervention.