Increased arachidonic acid content in platelet phospholipids from diabetic patients.

Platelet abnormalities have been suggested to be linked with vascular diseases. Diabetes mellitus has a high incidence of vascular complications. In the present study gas-liquid chromatography analyses were carried out to investigate the fatty acid composition in platelet phospholipids of Type-2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetic patients. Fatty acid composition in platelet phospholipids was different between diabetics and age-matched control subjects. Arachidonic acid increased significantly (p less than 0.01), and both eicosatrienoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid decreased in diabetes mellitus. A good correlation was found between fatty acid content of platelet phospholipids and that of plasma total lipids in the fatty acids examined, except for arachidonic acid. The levels of arachidonic acid in diabetic platelet phospholipids was disproportionately high to these in plasma total lipids. These results suggest that the system for arachidonic acid incorporation into platelet phospholipids is specifically accelerated in the diabetic metabolic state.