The elevation of intracellular calcium in various tissues due to oxidative stress induced by either menadione or adriamycin has been well documented. The increase of calcium level in platelets results in aggregation of platelets. To test the hypothesis that chemically induced calcium elevations can play a role in platelet aggregation, we have studied the effects of menadione and adriamycin on aggregation of platelets isolated from female rats. Treatment with menadione and adriamycin to platelet rich plasma (PRP) appeared to induce platelet aggregations up to 60%, as determined by aggregometry. However, exposure of PRP to rnenadione or adriamycin led to a loss of viability, as measured by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage. Morphological studies of platelets revealed that, when PRP was treated with menadione, aggregates of platelets were not observed and the numbers of platelets were decreased significantly. This suggests that menadione and adriamycin decreased turbidity by inducing platelet lysis rather than platelet aggregation. These cellular toxicities induced by menadione or adriamycin was not correlated with oxygen consumption rate but with depletion of protein thiols, suggesting that protein thiols might play an important role in chemical-induced platelet toxicity.