Utilidad de la citometría de flujo para valorar el efecto de la atorvastatina sobre la función plaquetaria y la movilización del Ca 2+ en pacientes hiperlipémicos

Abstract

Introduction Thrombotic events are common in hyperlipemic patients in which platelet activation play a decisive role. The presence of activated platelets, as described in a previous paper, is a major risk factor for thrombosis in patients with a high plasma cholesterol and it is therefore of great interest to have a lipid lowering drug that, in addition to normalising plasma lipids, also decreases this activation of circulating platelets. The main aims of this study are to assess whether the increased platelet activation in hypercholesterolemic patients is accompanied by changes in cytoplasmic free calcium mobilisation in platelets and the formation of platelet microaggregates, and whether these changes are normalised by treatment with atorvastatin. Material and methods To achieve these aims 30 hypercholesterolemia patients and 40 normolipemic controls were recruited. The percentage of CD62 positive platelets, the number of spontaneously formed platelet microaggregates (MAP/5000 platelets) and the free calcium mobilization in platelets were evaluated in citrated blood . An EPICS-XL flow cytometer and the antibodies and fluorochromes CD61.PE, CD62.FITC and FLUO3-AM were used for this study. The patients were evaluated before and after two months of atorvastatin (20 mg/day) treatment. Results The results show that atorvastatin treatment significantly decreases the plasma concentration of total and LDL-Cholesterol and triglycerides. In parallel a decrease was noted in the percentage of activated circulating CD62 positive platelets (2.41±1.55% to 1.45±1.06%, P<0.05) and also in the number of spontaneously formed MAP (390±43 to 322±48, P<0.05). These changes were accompanied by the normalization in the free calcium mobilization in platelets. Conclusions As a conclusion it is noted that the flow cytometry of whole blood is a useful technique for evaluating aspects such as those raised in this study. Hypercholesterolemia patients showed more spontaneous platelet activation, which was accompanied by the formation of platelet microaggregates and changes in the cytoplasmic free calcium mobilization, which were normalised by treatment with atorvastatin, which has not been previously reported in the literature.