Abstract

Blood platelets play a crucial role in physiological haemostasis and in pathology of prothrombotic states, including atherosclerosis. In this paper, we review major factors underlying altered platelet reactivity, with special attention paid to abnormalities in platelet function in people with diabetes mellitus (DM). The overall picture of platelet abnormalities in DM, including altered adhesion and aggregation, is hypersensitivity of diabetic platelets to agonists. “Primed” diabetic platelets respond more frequently even to subthreshold stimuli, sooner become exhausted, consumed and finally hyposensitive, thus contributing to accelerated thrombopoiesis and release of

Keywords: diabetes mellitus, blood platelets, platelet hypersensitivity, platelet glycoprotein receptors, glycoprotein polymorphisms (snp), membrane lipid fluidity, antiplatelet drugs, vascular disease