[Potentiating effect of some fatty acids on platelet aggregation induced with ADP, collagen and 1-epinephrine]

Since there is evidence of the correlation between the platelet membrane phospholipids and the aggregating properties of several agents, we studied in vitro the effect of Free Fatty Acids (FFA) on ADP, collagen and epinephrine-induced platelet aggregation. Our results showed that "sub-critical" concentrations of long carbon chains of saturated and unsaturated FFA potentiated the platelet aggregation induced by "critical" concentrations of ADP, collagen and epinephrine. However, we suggest that exogenous long carbon chains of FFA could enhance the platelet membrane lipids and could make the platelets more "responsive" or "sensitive" to lowest aggregating stimuli.