Reduced serum butyrylcholinesterase activity indicates severe systemic inflammation in critically ill patients.

ABSTRACT: Systemic inflammation is an immune response to a nonspecific insult of either infectious or noninfectious origin and remains a challenge in the intensive care units with high mortality rate. Cholinergic neurotransmission plays an important role in the regulation of the immune response during inflammation. We hypothesized that the activity of butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) might serve as a marker to identify and prognose systemic inflammation. By using a point-of-care-testing (POCT) approach we measured BChE activity in patients with severe systemic inflammation and healthy volunteers. We observed a decreased BChE activity in patients with systemic inflammation, as compared to that of healthy individuals. Furthermore, BChE activity showed an inverse correlation with the severity of the diseas

SUBMITTER: Zivkovic AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4339712 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature