EFFECTS OF DILAZEP ON PLATELET FUNCTIONS AND VOLUME CHANGE IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES-MELLITUS

Dilazep (CAS 35898-87-4), a vasodilating agent, was administered to pa tients with diabetes mellitus (300 mg/day for a minimum of two weeks). Various parameters of platelet function were evaluated both pre- and post-therapy. While dilazep affected neither aggregation nor intracell ular Ca++ mobilization, it had a tendency to attenuate arachidonic aci d metabolism induced by 0.1 U/ml thrombin (p = 0.1). The rate of plate let volume increase induced by weak acid loading was significantly hig her post-therapy than pre-therapy. Since platelet volume change is gen erally suppressed in diabetic patients, dilazep administration appeare d to normalize volume change induced by acid loading. It is implicated that dilazep reduced the membrane rigidity of platelets from diabetic patients, thereby allowing easy expansion of platelet volume.