Macrophages of the cardiosplenal axis and their content in patients with myocardial infarction

The spleen is one of the main reservoirs of monocytes, the leading cells of the post-infarction inflammatory response.Aim: To assess features of splenic macrophage infiltration, its dynamics and correlations with myocardial macrophage infiltration and an adverse course of the myocardial infarction (MI)Material and Methods. The macrophage composition of spleen and myocardium sections of patients (n = 30) with fatal MI and persons from the control group without cardiovascular disease (n = 5) was assessed by immunohistochemistry.Results and conclusion. All investigated cells, as CD68+, CD163+, CD206+, and stabilin-1+ were represented in the spleen regardless of the presence of MI. Their number in spleen in patients with MI remained consistently high regardless of the period of MI, and was accompanied by an increased number of such cells in the infarction area of myocardium. CD68+, CD163+ and stabilin-1+ cells predominated in the red pulp in patients with fatal MI, its number many fold exceeded that in the control group and that in the white pulp and in the infarction area of myocardium. In the white pulp of patients with fatal MI, the number of CD68+ cells predominated, in persons from the control group – CD163+. We revealed only one cell types whose content in the spleen in the control group was higher than in individuals with fatal MI – CD206+in the red pulp. Low content of CD206+ cells in the red and white pulp of the spleen characterized patients with a fatal outcome of MI.