Bovine serum albumin bound 14C-palmitic acid (BSA-14C-PA) is transported into platelets of normal and cirrhotic subjects by simple diffusion. Initial uptake increases linearly with the concentration of BSA-14C-PA in the medium. The time course accumulation of BSA-14C-PA is found to be higher in the platelets of patients with cirrhosis compared to that of normals. At 50-min incubation, the amount of 14C-PA accumulated in the platelets of cirrhotic subjects is 52.43 ± 7.40 nmol/109 platelets and in the platelets of normal controls it is 22.71 ± 3.14 nmol/109 platelets. The diffusion rate of BSA-14C-PA is also higher in the platelets of cirrhotic patients where the slope of the concentration dependency curve for 109 platelets at 30 sec is 56.0 ± 4.8 × 10-4 liters. This value is 21.6 ± 2.4 × 10-4 liters for normal sub