Addition of vanadate and molybdate to electropermeabilized human platelets caused a time- and dose-dependent increase in the phosphotyrosyl content of 50- and 38-kDa proteins. This effect can most likely be attributed to an inhibition of protein-tyrosine-phosphatase activity because vanadate and molybdate inhibited this activity in platelet extracts by greater than 97% while causing an increase in tyrosyl phosphorylation of artificial substrates that had been added to the same extracts. The addition of vanadate and molybdate to the electropermeabilized platelets also induced an increase in serotonin and PDGF secretion. Interestingly, the secretion of these components tightly correlated in a time- and dose-dependent fashion with the phosphorylation of the 50-kDa protein on tyrosyl residues. This suggests that the tyrosine phosphorylation of this protein may be closely linked to the platelet activation cascade.