[Intraerythrocyte folates and leukocytic neutrophil segmentation in macrocytosis in patients with liver disease].
The problem of macrocytosis above all concerns deficiences and the study of these aspects is particularly important in hepatopathic patients for therapeutic purposes. A state of deficiency can also be revealed in morphological terms by the assessment of the hypersegmentation of polymorphonucleate neutrophil leucocytes. In the group of hepatopathic patients included in the study there was no significant differences in vitamin B12 concentrations in comparison to normal values, whereas mean levels of serum folates were decreased, although still within the normal range. It is worth underlining that to evaluate vitamin B12 it is necessary to measure analogous inefficient components from a metabolic point of view and the assessment of serum folates is not important as an index of normal erythropoietic activity. To overcome this limitation, we assayed intraerythrocytic folates which are vitamin-B12-dependent and these too proved to be within the normal range. Leucocyte hypersegmentation was also excluded by evaluating the mean of PMN lobes. A clearly normal RDW was also observed in macrocytic anemia in hepatopathic patients and this may represent a further difference from hepatocytic macrocytosis.
Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Terapia Medica, Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università degli Studi di Pavia.
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Cortinovis
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Crippa
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Crippa
D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000473:pathology*; D014805:Vitamin B 12 / Q000097:blood*
D005492:Folic Acid; D014805:Vitamin B 12
Folati intraeritrocitari e segmentazione leucocitaria neutrofila nella macrocitosi dell'epatopatico.