Sialidase treatment of rat thrombocytes led to an increased binding of these cells to homologous peritoneal macrophages, but had no significant effect on the rate of phagocytosis during the experimental time. As revealed by electron microscopy, the partially desialylated thrombocytes adhere to macrophages predominantly via a small part of the membrane in a way that the discoidal cells adopt a vertical position with regard to the macrophage surface. One adherent macrophage was able to bind up to 55 sialidase-treated thrombocytes. Maximum binding was already reached after release of 13% of sialic acids. This interaction could be inhibited by free D-galactose and compounds with terminal D-galactose residues. Bound thrombocytes were released from the macrophages by treatment with lactose or EDTA. These experiments suggest that the interaction is mediated by a galactose-specific receptor on the macrophage surface and that galactose on thrombocytes is not recognized if it is masked by terminal sialic acid residues. The total sialic acid amount of the thrombocytes studied was about 70 micrograms sialic acid/10(10) cells being composed of 78% N-glycoloylneuraminic acid, 17% N-acetylneuraminic acid and 5% of the novel sialic acid N-(O-acetyl)glycoloylneuraminic acid, which was identified by mass spectrometry. Sixty-two percent of these sialic acids were susceptible to enzymic hydrolysis with Vibrio cholerae sialidase.