P. Gionchetti et al., RESPIRATORY BURST OF CIRCULATING POLYMORPHONUCLEAR LEUKOCYTES AND PLASMA ELASTASE LEVELS IN PATIENTS WITH INFLAMMATORY BOWEL-DISEASE IN REMISSION, Digestive diseases and sciences, 39(3), 1994, pp. 550-554
The activation of circulating polymorphonuclear leukocytes was determi
ned in terms of superoxide radical generation and granulocyte elastase
release in untreated patients with ulcerative colitis (N = 10) and Cr
ohn's disease (N = 9) in remission and in control subjects (N = 10). S
uperoxide radical generation was determined by monitoring spectrophoto
metrically the reduction of ferricytochrome, after stimulation of cell
s with phorbol myristate acetate. Plasma elastase concentration was me
asured by a solid-phase enzyme immunoassay technique as the complex wi
th alpha-1-proteinase inhibitor. Superoxide formation by polymorphonuc
lear leukocytes from patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's dise
ase was significantly lower compared with controls [median (range) nmo
l/min/mg protein: Crohn's disease 7.8 (7.1-9.6); ulcerative colitis 8.
25 (7.4-10.3); controls 14.7 (13.6-15.8)] (P < 0.001), while no differ
ence was found between the two groups of patients. In contrast plasma
elastase levels in patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's diseas
e were similar to that of controls. This defective respiratory burst o
f polymorphonuclear leukocytes in patients with inflammatory bowel dis
ease in remission, in absence of an altered degranulation, could repre
sent an important factor for the pathogenesis of these diseases.