It has been reported that although ASA may have some beneficial effects in males, no differences from placebo was detected in females in clinical trials on venous thrombosis, TIA and stroke. Since ASA inhibits platelet function and because the end-points measured in the above clinical studies may be related to platelet function, we measured bleeding time and platelet aggregation induced by collagen or arachidonic acid following oral administration of ASA (650 mg) or flurbiprofen (100 mg) in normal male and female volunteers (10 per group, total of 40 subjects) between the age of 50 and 70.No sex-associated differences in response with either drug were observed in bleeding time or platelet function. Thus, we were unable to confirm that the observation of beneficial effect of ASA in males was due to its effect on platelets. However, more interestingly there was a statistically shorter bleeding time in males (p = 0.026) before administration of drug. It was also found that despite the normal response to collagen, PRP prepared from pre-drug blood samples from 6 individuals (15%) did not aggregate when stimulated with arachidonic acid at concentrations as high as 1 mM. These results suggest that, at least in some individuals, collagen-induced aggregation may proceed by a pathway independent of the arachidonic acid pathway.