Hyperglycemia enhances arsenic-induced platelet and megakaryocyte activation.

We demonstrate that glucose concentrations common in DM potentiate the effect of inorganic arsenic exposure on markers of platelet and megakaryocyte activity. Our results support recent observational cohort data that DM enhances the vasculotoxic effects of arsenic exposure, and suggest that activation of the platelet-megakaryocyte hemostatic axis is a pathway through which inorganic arsenic confers atherothrombotic risk, particularly for patients with DM.