The human platelet. A diagnostic and research tool for the study of biogenic amines in psychiatric and neurologic disorders.

Comparison of the properties of blood platelets and serotonergic synaptosomes suggests that the human platelet can serve as an appropriate model for the transport, metabolism, and release of serotonin (5-HT) by CNS serotonergic neurons. The study of blood 5-HT levels and platelet 5-HT pharmacodynamics in patients with a variety of psychiatric and neurologic disorders has generated interesting leads into possible abnormalities of CNS 5-HT neurons in these patients. This article reviews the experimental evidence, which uses the human platelet model to investigate neurotransmitter-related abnormalities in Down syndrome, mental retardation, infantile autism, hyperactivity syndromes (minimal brain dysfunction), schizophrenia, affective disorders, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Parkinson disease, Huntington chorea, and migraine headaches.