HISTOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF PLATELET META BOLISM IN SLE

To determine feasibility of using quantitative histochemical assessmen t of platelet anaerobic metabolism in lupus nephritis (LN) prognostica tion and elucidation of its activity, the authors examined 23 SLE pati ents. 20 of them developed renal lesions. Anaerobic metabolism of plat elets was measured according to lactate dehydrogenase levels. All the SLE patients had significantly higher levels of the enzyme than health y controls showed. Maximal LDG activity was registered in rapidly prog ressive LN with thrombocytopenia. The findings support activation of p latelet hemostatic component in SLE patients and valid utilization of a new quantitative histochemical technique for determination of intrac ellular metabolism enzymes content.