Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em
Genética Molecular e BiomedicinaAcute myocardial infarction (AMI), sepsis and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are part of the inflammatory diseases’ group. Every year millions of people are affected and die because of them, all around the globe. In the past years our knowledge of these diseases has increased and a light on their pathophysiology has been shed, but there is still much more to be discovered. Biological markers that would make pre-disease diagnosis possible would change many of the outcomes for patients suffering from them. The aim of this study was to access the evolution of four hemorheological markers (erythrocyte deformability, erythrocyte aggregation, nitric oxide – NO and S-nitrosoglutathione – GSNO) in order to understand their behaviour in three types of inflammatory diseases. Four study groups were created: ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) group (15 patients), RA (25 patients), sepsis (14 patients) and the control group (CTR; 15 healthy volunteers). In STEMI group two different measurements were taken, one at time of hospital admission and the other after a month. In the sepsis group four measurements were taken throughout the internment in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU): admission, 24 hours, 72 hours after and discharge. Significant difference was observed in the 10s erythrocyte aggregation marker between the STEMI patients at hospital admission and CTR group. Significant differences of deformability, aggregation and GSNO were obtained upon comparison of sepsis patients (at all time-points) and CTR. In addition to this, the longitudinal changes of GSNO erythrocyte concentrations were significant. In conclusion, abnormal values for some of the studied hemorheological parameters were verified in inflammatory diseases, namely myocardial infarction (STEMI), sepsis and rheumatoid arthritis. The results seem to point out to a relation between inflammation and the hemorheological alterations
