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Ultrastructural Study on the Changes in Neutrophils of Septic
Patients in ICU
Ahmad Ali.
Abd-El-Hfez (1) & Amal A. Ahmed (2)
Departments of Anesthesia & Intensive care (1) and
Histology (2), Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University,
Egypt
Tanta Med. Sc. J 2009; 4(2):69-78
Background/Aim: sepsis is the leading cause of death in hospital
intensive care units (ICU), where the incidence is often 2-5 times
higher than in other hospital departments. A number of laboratories
have been interested in understanding how changes in immune cell
apoptosis during sepsis appear to contribute to septic morbidity.
Consistently, it has been found that immune cell apoptosis is
altered in a variety of tissue sites and cell populations both in
experimental animals and humans. Peripheral blood neutrophils react
to an inflammatory stimulus with a delay in apoptosis, and not an
increase as seen with lymphocytes. However, in this mechanism, a
potentially harmful consequence appears to be buried. The aim of
this work is to study the ultrastructural changes that occur in
human neutrophil blood cells of patients with sepsis. Patients &
Methods: Blood samples were collected from 21 patients with sepsis
in ICU and 11 healthy individuals as control, on sodium citrate for
complete blood pictures and electron microscopic studies. Results:
The examined neutrophils of septic patients showed ultrastructural
changes of priming and aging in the nuclei and different cytoplasmic
organelles. Conclusion: The morpho-functional modifications observed
in electron microscopic studies of peripheral blood neutrophils of
patients with sepsis indicated a primed activated state of these
cells as well as delayed apoptosis.
ICID 889685
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