Leucocyte aggregation in burned patients

Treatment with cerium nitrate bathing modulate systemic leukocyte activation following burn injury: an experimental study in rat cremaster muscle flap

It is suggested that burn toxin known as lipid protein complex (LPC) stimulates phagocytic cells that cause the release of a variety of inflammatory mediators which induce the activation of leukocytes. It is reported that cerium nitrate (CN) might fix LPC in eschar tissue and prevent LPC from entering the circulation. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that prevention or modulation of LPC initiated cell activation by fixing LPC in eschar tissue with CN treatment, would reduce the number of activated leukocytes, which is an important indicator of inflammation, in rat cremaster muscle flap model. Twenty-eight animals were studied in four groups--group I (control), only cremaster muscle flap was dissected; group II (burn injury), burn injury was performed and flap was dissected; group III (saline); and group IV (CN), following burn injury rats treated with saline and CN, respectively, and than flaps were dissected. Blood vessels were observed in vivo under an intravital microscopy system and the number of rolling, sticking, and transmigrating leukocytes were measured in each group. Burn injury significantly increased the number of activated leukocytes (P<0.001). We observed that CN treatment significantly reduced the number of activated leukocytes following burn injury (P<0.001). In conclusion, we demonstrated that CN treatment significantly decreased the activation of leukocytes, which plays an important role in systemic inflammation. Decreased leukocyte activation is interpreted as prevention or modulation of systemic inflammatory response following burn injury.

The state of leucocyte adhesiveness/aggregation (LAA) in the peripheral blood of burned mice: an early and sensitive inflammatory indicator and a marker of pulmonary leukostasis

The inflammatory response during thermal injury increases the adhesiveness of white blood cells. A direct slide test was used to compare the state of leucocyte adhesiveness/aggregation (LAA) in the peripheral blood of mice subjected to a thermal injury with the findings in control animals. The state of LAA in the peripheral blood increased from baseline values of 1.1 +/- 1.1 per cent to 6.5 +/- 1.3 per cent within 1 h and to 11.0 +/- 1.2 per cent and 14.8 +/- 4 per cent after 3 and 6 h respectively following thermal injury. The respective leucocyte counts were 3075 +/- 277/mm3 (baseline), 3871 +/- 359, 3840 +/- 687 and 6395 +/- 1152 cells/mm3. The LAA values had subsided by 5 days following burning and correlated with the degree of pulmonary leukostasis. Our study suggests that the LAA is an early and sensitive marker of inflammation and that it can be used as a marker for the presence of pulmonary leukostasis during thermal injury.