TNF and metabolic syndrome: When the platelets were disaggregated from leukocytes with EDTA, leukocyte adhesion to endothelial cells remained significantly higher in the metabolic syndrome group than in the control group (Figure 7B), despite the significantly lower number of leukocytes that adhered to TNFα-stimulated HUAEC than when platelets were bound (Figure 7A, Heparin).