The present investigation has evaluated the influence of reserpine on the serotonin-rich organelles bodies) in platelets from dogs, rabbits, and humans. Reserpine markedly depresses the levels of stored serotonin in human and animal platelets, accompanied by a small decrease in platelet ATP but no change in platelet ADP content. Thin sections of human platelets showed no change in the number or morphology of serotonin storage organelles during reserpine therapy, whereas a profound decrease in the size and number of dense bodies occurred in platelets from rabbits treated with reserpine. Dog platelets also showed a decrease in the number and density of serotonin storage organelles after reserpine therapy. The basis for the difference between rabbit and human platelets was explored by fixing platelets in glutaraldehyde and osmium in the presence or absence of the chelating agent ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). Most of the dense bodies in fixed human platelets were removed by EDTA while rabbit platelet dense bodies remained essentially intact. The results suggested that the opacity of rabbit platelet dense bodies following fixation with glutaraldehyde and osmium relate primarily to their serotonin content, while the electron density of human serotonin storage organelles in fixed cells is due primarily to their calcium content. Further confirmation of this concept came from studies of platelets using the whole mount technique. Rabbit platelet serotonin storage organelles were found to lack the inherent opacity of the human dense bodies, a finding consistent with the lower concentration of calcium in the rabbit organelles.