Abstract
Objective: Previous studies have suggested that obesity enhances the inflammatory response, producing macromolecules involved in the induction and/or maintenance of increased erythrocyte aggregation. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the correlation between inflammation markers, erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation, and the degree of obesity and to assess phosphatidylserine expression on erythrocyte surface membrane of obese vs. nonobese individuals. Research Methods and Procedures: Erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation in the peripheral venous blood was evaluated by using a new biomarker, phosphatidylserine expression was assessed by means of flow cytometry, and markers of inflammation were measured in 65 subjects: 30 obese [body mass index (BMI) = 41 ± 7.7 kg/m2] and 35 nonobese (BMI = 24 ± 2.7 kg/m2) individuals. Pearson correlations and Student's t test were performed. Results: A highly significant difference was noted in the degree of erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation and markers of inflammation between the study groups. BMI correlated with erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation (r = 0.42, p = 0.001), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (r = 0.42, p = 0.001), high-sensitive C-reactive protein (r = 0.55, p < 10-4), fibrinogen (r = 0.37, p = 0.004), and white blood cell count (r = 0.45, p < 10-4). The degree of erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation correlated with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (r = 0.5, p < 10-4), high-sensitive C-reactive protein (r = 0.56, p < 10-4), fibrinogen (r = 0.54, p < 10-4), and white blood cell count (r = 0.32, p = 0.01). Discussion: Our results suggest that obesity-related erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation is probably mediated through increased concentrations of adhesive macromolecules in the circulation and not necessarily through hyperlipidemia or phosphatidylserine exposure on erythrocyte's membrane.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 403-407 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Obesity Research |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Jan 2003 |
Keywords
- Erythrocyte aggregability
- Inflammation markers
- Phosphatidylserine
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Medicine (miscellaneous)
- Food Science
- Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
- Endocrinology
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health