Study of basic metabolism of blood polymorphonuclear in COPD patients

Objective: To study the alteration and find out the clinical significance of basic metabolism of blood polymorphonuclear in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Methods: The study determined the basic chemiluminescence (CL) of PMN in patients with COPD in acute exacerbating stage (15 cases), stable stage (14 cases), and in 20 healthy controls, using the liquid scintillator counting chemiluminescence technique in order to find out the correlation between PMN-basic CL and clinical features. Results: The PMN-basic CL in patients with acute or stable COPD were significantly higher than controls. It was negatively correlated with obstructive ventilatory dysfunction index and PaO₂ of COPD. Conclusions: Basic metabolism of PMN in COPD patients is extremely active. This alteration may play an important role in the process of the disease. The abnormalities is related to airflow obstruction of COPD, and may be an important reason in forming and propelling the process forward.