Rabbit basophil-derived platelet activating factor (PAF), a mediator of anaphylaxis, induces the aggregation and release of serotonin from rabbit platelets. In the present study, we report that PAF obtained by challenge of specifically sensitized rabbit basophils induced the noncytotoxic release of serotonin from human platelets; maximal extent of release ranged between 34-46%. This release was unaltered in the presence of indomethacin, indicating that such secretion was not a consequence of contaminating arachidonic acid; further, as previously demonstrated with platelets of rabbit origin, it was markedly independent of a requirement for an intact prostaglandin biosynthetic pathway. In contrast to its effect upon rabbit platelets, rabbit PAF did not induce aggregation of human platelets, suggesting that the aggregation and secretion reactions induced by this agent are separable and that this cross-species activation may be incomplete. Whether this is a result of the differential ability of rabbit PAF to bind to and activate rabbit as compared to human platelets or to the existence of a family of PAF molecules is not yet known. The capacity of PAF to participate in a secretory event involving human platelets lends support to the belief that PAF may play an important ubiquitous role in the cooperative, leucocyte-dependent, release of vasoactive amines which results in increased vascular permeability.