HEMORHEOLOGICAL BENEFITS OF OMEGA-3 POLYUNSATURATED FATTY-ACIDS ON ERYTHROCYTE DEFORMABILITY IN RENAL TRANSPLANTED PATIENTS

The decrease in erythrocyte deformability was observed in renal failur e and also in renal transplanted patients. In this work, we studied th e effects of a daily dietary supplement of fish oil concentrate (maxEP A) against olive oil on the erythrocyte deformability in 23 renal tran splanted patients. This study included 13 men and 10 women with the me an age of 32.8 +/- 12.3 who had been transplanted within 36 +/- 20 mon ths and their renal functions had been stable for at least 3 months. T he immunosuppressive treatment was stabilized and associated with cycl osporine A, azathioprine and corticosteroids. The capsules of maxEPA o r olive oil ( n=6/day ) were given following randomised and controlled trials. After six months treatment, the index of erythrocyte deformab ility in two groups was evaluated according to the Dormandy and Reid m odified technique. significant improvements were found in treated pati ents with maxEPA. The composition of erythrocyte phospholipids membran es was determined by gas chromatography. An increase of omega 3 fatty acids was observed in the treated patients. These results showed that a supplementation with unsatured fatty acids, was able to improve the mechanical aspects of red blood cells in renal transplanted patients t reated with immunosuppressive drugs.