BLOOD PLATELET FLUCTUATION CONSECUTIVE TO TRAUMA AND SURGICAL INTERVENTION IN THE RAT, A POSSIBLE STRESS EFFECT

Abstract

The typical blood platelet fluctuation repeatedly observed in man following surgical interventions and characterized by thrombocytopenia during the first 2 days and thrombocytosis after 5 to 8 days, has been reproduced in rats subjected to certain procedures, provided these were accompanied by severe tissue damage. An E. coli endotoxin injected intravenously or intraperitoneally induced a similar fluctuation and markedly potentiated the effects of the tissue damage on the blood platelets. This variation in the platelet count could be a stress effect, since it was completely reproduced by forced immobilization in the absence of any gross tissue damage. Ether anesthesia seems to reduce the magnitude of this stress-induced platelet fluctuation.