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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #67312
Title: THE EFFECT OF DIETARY ARACHIDONIC ACID ON PLATELET FUNCTION, PLATELET FATTYACID COMPOSITION AND BLOOD COAGULATION IN HUMANS

Author
item Nelson, Gary
item Schmidt, Perla
item Bartolini, Giovanni
item Kelley, Darshan
item KYLE, D - MARTEX CORP

Submitted to: Annual Meeting and Expo of the American Oil Chemists' Society
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/15/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Arachidonic acid (AA) is the precursor of thromboxane and prostacyclin, two of the most active compounds related to platelet function (PA). The effect of dietary AA on PA in humans is not understood although a previous study suggested dietary AA might have adverse physiological consequences on PA. Here normal healthy male volunteers (n=10) were fed diets containing 1.8 g/d of arachidonic acid for 50 d. The control diet contained 340 mg/d of AA. Blood for platelet function tests was drawn and separated into platelet rich plasma (PRP) by centrifugation at 100 g. Platelet poor plasma was obtained by recentrifuging the remaining blood at 400 g. Platelet aggregation in the PRP was determined using ADP, collagen and AA. No statistical differences could be detected between the aggregation before and after consuming the high-AA diet. The prothrombin time, partial thromboplastin time, and the antithrombin III levels in the subjects were determined also. There were no statistically significant differences in these three parameters when the values were compared before and after they consumed the high-AA diet. The in vivo bleeding times also did not show a significant difference before and after the subjects consumed the high-AA diet. However, there was a significant decrease in the bleeding time in all subjects in the study that was independent of the dietary regimen. This could be attributed to an increase in the level of n6 fatty acids in the subjects diet, or a reduction in their intake of saturated fatty acids. Platelets exhibited only a small changes in their AA content during the AA feeding period.