Ditazole and platelets III. Effect of ditazole on tumor-cell induced thrombocytopenia and on bleeding time in mice.

Ditazole (4,5-diphenyl-2-bis-(2-hydroxyethyl)-aminoxazol) inhibits in vivo platelet aggregation induced in mice by intravenous injection of cells derived from an experimental tumor, the Lewis lung carcinoma. Such a protective effect of ditazole could not be observed when the number of circulating platelets dropped slowly following intramuscular implantation and spontaneous dissemination of the same cancer cells. These results support previous observations suggesting a different mechanism for the thrombocytopenia observed after intravenous and intramuscular injection of cancer cells. Tail transection bleeding time of normal mice is significantly prolonged by ditazole, a finding at variance with that reported in rats.