When platelets are stimulated with adenosine diphosphate (ADP), fibrinogen binds to receptors on the platelet membrane, and the platelets aggregate. The primary platelet recognition sites of human fibrinogen are reported to be at the COOH-terminal ends of the gamma chains, with secondary sites in the A alpha chains. Normal human fibrinogen, which consists of three pairs of disulfide-bonded peptide chains, (A alpha, B beta, gamma)2, is heterogeneous with respect to sialic acid content and also contains a small proportion of molecules with a variant gamma chain (designated gamma'), elongated by a peptide extension at the COOH-terminus of the normal gamma chain. We separated fibrinogen into three fractions by chromatography on DEAE cellulose and tested the interactions of these fractions with ADP-stimulated human and rabbit platelets. Two fractions had the normal chain composition, (A alpha B beta, gamma)2, but different sialic acid contents (6.6 and 7.2 mol/mol), and the third fraction had the chain composition (A alpha, B beta)2 gamma gamma' and a sialic acid content of 7.2 mol/mol, which is similar to that of one of the normal fractions. In binding and aggregation experiments, we detected no significant differences between the reactions of the first two fractions, but ADP-stimulated platelets bound only 50% as much of 125I-fibrinogen from the fraction with the gamma' chains and also aggregated less extensively in the presence of this fraction. We conclude that the sialic acid content of fibrinogen does not significantly affect its interactions with platelets, but the elongated gamma' chains bind less effectively to ADP-stimulated platelets, and thus reduce the ability of fibrinogen to support aggregation. This may result from a conformational change caused by the gamma' extension or from the deletion of a portion of the normal gamma chain recognition site.