Endothelial and platelet activation markers in early and convalescent phases of ischemic stroke: correlation with clinical and functional disability

Abstract EN

Background: the soluble form of selectins in the blood may play an important role in the pathophysiology of atherosclerotic ischemic stroke.

Objective: To determine whether blood concentrations of the soluble form of selectins are elevated among patients with atherosclerotic ischemic stroke, whether their concentrations in blood correlate with clinical& functional disability and to estimate differences in their levels between lacunar and territorial strokes.

Methodology: We measured the serum levels of soluble E-selectin (sE-selectin) and soluble P-selectin (sP-selectin) during the early and convalescent phases of 37 patients with ischemic stroke compared to controls.

We, also did correlation analysis between their levels at baseline and after 3 months with clinical and functional disability scores (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale – NIHSS – and Barthel Index–BI – respectively).

Results: Levels of sE-selectin and sP-selectin in stroke patients were significantly elevated compared with controls during the early phase, with significant fall in their levels below baseline measurements and below those in controls after three months.

sE-selectin levels after 3 months correlated with a better functional status as measured by BI, while sP-selectin levels didn’t show any correlation with clinical or functional scores.

No significant differences were found in the course of sE-selectin, sP-selectin levels between lacunar and territorial strokes.

Conclusions: The evaluation of endothelial and platelet markers would represent the pathophysiological status of stroke.

This may offer the possibility of researching the application of antagonists and/ or activity modulators of some of them in ischemic brain disease therapy.