Rat platelet aggregation impaired by short-term zinc deficiency

Platelets in plasma from immature male rats fed a complete purified diet exhibited biphasic aggregation in response to 0.2 microM adenosine diphosphate (ADP). Rats fed the diet without added zinc (< 1 ppm) for 1 week failed to show the secondary phase of aggregation. Aggregation in response to collagen and arachidonic acid was almost totally absent in the zinc-deficient plasma, but the response to the divalent cation ionophore, A23187, was normal. The results demonstrate that zinc is essential for platelet function and suggest that it is involved in the platelet metabolism of arachidonic acid.