Anti-inflammatory effects of blood platelets in the rat.

A selective accumulation of blood platelets occurs at the sites of intradermal injection of zymosan and carrageenan in the rat. The inflammatory response to zymosan, assessed by the local accumulation of systemic radioactive human serum albumin, was significantly enhanced in platelet-depleted rats. Similar enhancements of the paw oedemas, caused by the subplantar injection of either carrageenan or zymosan, were also observed in thrombocytopenic animals. It is concluded that blood platelets may exert protective, i.e., anti-inflammatory, effects in some models of acute inflammation in the rat.