THE EFFECT OF SHORT-TERM MYOCARDIAL-ISCHEMIA ON THE EXPRESSION OF ADHESION MOLECULES AND THE OXIDATIVE BURST OF CORONARY SINUS BLOOD NEUTROPHILS

We examined the influence of transient myocardial ischemia on the numb er and function of neutrophils in patients with effort angina (EA). We tested fluorometrically the expression of neutrophil membrane molecul es (CD11b, CD11c, CD18) and neutrophil oxidative burst using a chemilu minescence (CL) generation system. The estimations were conducted befo re, 1 min after and 20 min after percutaneous transluminal coronary an gioplasty (PTCA) in 15 patients qualified for the treatment because of single-vessel disease. Eight EA patients subjected to coronary arteri ography (CA) comprised a control group. We did not observe any marked changes in leucocytosis or lymphocyte number in peripheral blood (PB) or in coronary sinus blood (CSB) after the procedure. The percentage o f granulocytes in coronary blood decreased significantly 20 min after reperfusion. No significant changes in white blood cell count were not ed in peripheral blood of PTCA patients or in control CA subjects. Oxi dative burst of nonstimulated and fMLP, PMA and zymosan stimulated sin us blood neutrophils was significantly depressed 1 min after inflation , and enhanced 20 min after reperfusion. We found a significant increa se in the percentage of the CD11c(+) neutrophils from 56.7 +/- 7.4% to 64 +/- 6.5% 20 min after inflation and postischemic decrease in the C D11c molecule expression on CSB neutrophils. Significant positive line ar correlation (R(val) = 0.71) between inflation time and the CD11c mo lecule expression on CSB immediately after reperfusion was also noted. The results may reflect local activation of neutrophils in ischemic m yocardium as a response to ischemia induced increase of activating sti muli.