Platelets in essential hypertension.

The ultrastructure and adenosine diphosphate induced aggregatory response of platelets of 39 patients with essential hypertension have been studied. Both, transmission and scanning electron microscopy showed the co-existence of various morphological forms of platelets suggestive of activation. The hypertensive platelets also exhibited increased sensitivity to ADP induced aggregation confirming the activated state of platelets; the degree of activation correlated well with the levels of diastolic blood pressure.