Blood platelet behaviour in syphilis.

Blood platelets carry a negative surface charge (Abramson, 1928) and so changes in platelet behaviour may result from changes in this charge. The fact that the migration of platelets in an electric field can be measured by microelectrophoresis was shown by Bangham, Flemans, Heard, and Seaman (1958), using an apparatus which consisted of a capillary tube with platinum electrodes fitted to each end. This capillary tube was filled with plasma rich in platelets. Using essentially the same technique, Hampton and Mitchell (1966a) showed that small concentrations of adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and noradrenaline increase the electrophoretic mobility of platelets and also that there is a characteristic change in this response pattern in certain pathological conditions. This paper reports typical abnormalities of blood platelet electrophoretic mobility pattern in cases of early syphilis, which are also observable, though to a lesser degree, in late syphilis. After penicillin these abnormal patterns reverted to normal.