Abstract

PICAGUA, E; MORA, C  and  CABELLO, A. Evaluation of the immunity response in children with burns. Mem. Inst. Investig. Cienc. Salud [online]. 2005, vol.3, n.1, pp.34-36. ISSN 1812-9528.

Burnt patients have several factors favoring the appearance of an imbalance in their immune response, increasing their susceptibility to infections. People with burns, especially children, presenting greater immunological alterations are those with worse prognosis and more possibilities of having complications. The aim of the present work is to evaluate the proliferative response of the lymphocytes in children with burns as a prognosis marker. Eleven boys and girls with burns were studied from January to March, 2004. They were from rural areas and did not have infectious complications. Nine apparently healthy children were included as controls. The children were included in the study with previous consent of their parents. Peripheral blood obtained in sterile form with heparin was used. The mononuclear cells were separated on Ficoll-Hypaque gradient and the cells (2,5 x 10⁶cell/ml) were cultivated in RPMI 1640 with 10% of fetal bovine serum (FBS), in triplicate at 37°C y 5% CO₂ stimulated with phytohemaglutinin-M (PHA-M). Non-stimulated mononuclear were used as control. The cellular proliferation was measured using a colorimetric method with MTT [3-(4.5 dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2.5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide]. Nine (82%) were male and 2(18%) were female. The mean age of the burnt children was of 4,03±4,19 years and that of the children control was 3,26±5,62 years. In the studied group, the cellular proliferation showed a decreased response of the lymphocytes in relation to the controls. (1,16±0,31 versus 2,66±0,37, p<0,01). This shows a significant decrease of the cellular immunity in these children, secondary to the burns. The high incidence of burns in paediatric age, seriousness of the lesions, complexity of the physiopathological mechanism and enormous mortality they have make very important the evaluation of the immunosuppression in the burnt child and hereby to contribute to the search of new and better options for these patients.

Keywords : PHA-M; Mononuclear cells; Cellular proliferation.

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