CHANGES IN THE CD4-CD16+CD56+ PERIPHERAL SUBPOPULATIONS RELATED TO THE STRESS OF ANTICIPATION OF MINOR SURGERY(CD45RA+ AND CD3)

Minor elective surgery, the most frequent surgical procedure, can indu ce stress in patients. It also affects the host's immune system on a p eripheral level. In our study, in a male population we determined natu ral killer (NK), B and T lymphocyte cell populations, memory and naive , and classical plasmatic parameters associated with stress at baselin e and also before the induction at anaesthesia. There was a significan t pre-operative peripheral decrease (P < 0.027) in the CD4 population as a result of a decline in the naive CD4+CD45RA+ sub-population (P < 0.03), whereas the CD4+CD45RO+ sub-population remained unchanged. The NK sub-population also declined and both these cellular changes were a ssociated with elevated plasma epinephrine and cortisol levels. We pro pose that the fall in cell number with reduced antigenic experience is due to these leaving the circulation by a process of compartmentaliza tion mediated by adrenal activity. Med Sci Res 26:451-453 (C) 1998 Lip pincott-Raven Publishers.