Relations between platelet cytosolic calcium, parathyroid hormone, and blood pressure were investigated in 91 normotensive subjects: 47 men and 44 women ranging in age from 24 to 70 years. The men had higher mean arterial blood pressure, serum creatinine, and body mass index than the women. Serum total calcium, plasma ionized calcium, and parathyroid hormone (measured as both intact hormone and mid-molecule fragment) were not different between men and women; however, serum phosphate was higher in women than in men. Basal platelet cytosolic calcium was higher in men than in women (113.7 +/- 1.9 versus 105.9 +/- 1.7, respectively; p less than 0.01), but there was no difference in the peak platelet cytosolic calcium responses to thrombin between the two groups. In the combined group of male and female subjects, platelet cytosolic calcium correlated with diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure (r = 0.37, p less than 0.001 and r = 0.32, p less than 0.01, respectively). Intact parathyroid hormone correlated with systolic and mean arterial blood pressure (r = 0.41, p less than 0.001 for both). Age correlated with both systolic blood pressure (r = 0.40, p less than 0.001) and intact parathyroid hormone (r = 0.51, p less than 0.001). When multiple regression analysis was performed using mean arterial pressure as the dependent variable, platelet cytosolic calcium and intact parathyroid hormone maintained significant correlations with mean arterial pressure. Platelet cytosolic calcium did not correlate with intact parathyroid hormone. These results suggest that both platelet cytosolic calcium and intact parathyroid hormone are associated with blood pressure regulation in normotensive subjects. However, the influences of these two factors on blood pressure are not interrelated.