CHARACTERISTICS OF INDICES OF THE CAROTID ARTERIES STRUCTURAL CONDITION IN PATIENTS WITH HYPERTENSION DEPENDING ON GALECTIN-3 AND ALDOSTERONE LEVELS

The article analyzes the structural condition of the carotid arteries in patients suffering from hypertension stage 2, depending on the plasma levels of galectin-3 and aldosterone in plazma. For this purpose, a complete physical examination of an equal number (80) of men and women with hypertension stage 2was conducted regardless of the degree. Patients with hypertension, who participated in the study, were divided into 4 groups depending on age: groups of young and middle age. The group of young patients included men and women (40 people), aged 18 to 44 years. The middle-aged groups included men and women (40 people), aged 45 to 60 years. The total num-ber of the examined patients which we surveyed and were included in the study was 160 persons. The control group included 27 relatively healthy persons (male and female). The average age and the percentage of young and middle-aged patients did not differ significantly. Verification of the diagnosis of hypertension was carried out on the basis of the existing criteria and recommendations. Aldosterone level was determined by the en-zyme-linked immunosorbent assay ELISA using reagents of IBL International GmbH (Canada). Aldosterone level of 40-160 pg/ml was considered as the reference values. The level of galectin-3 in serum was determined by the solid-phase enzyme linked immunosorbent assay using a set of reagents of Human Galectin-3 Platinum Elisa (Bender MedSystems GmbH, Austria). Blood sampling for the determination of bi-omarkers (aldosterone and galectin-3) was performed on an empty stomach at 8:30 (after a 20-minute rest) from a cubital vein in an amount of 5 ml EDTA evacuator (1 mg per 1 ml of blood). Whole blood was centrifuged for 20 min (at 1600 rpm). The resulting plasma was transferred into Eppendorf-type polypropylene tubes. The material was stored at -300C for a maximum of 8 months prior to the study. Hemolyzed sera were not included in the study. The structural condition of the carotid arteries (CA) was determined according to the assessment of the intima-media thickness (IMT). IMT assessment was conducted be means of ALOKA SSD-5000 ProSound PHD (Japan) apparatus. It has been found that none of the examined patients had registered atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid artery, therefore the structural condition of the latter was determined by means of IMT measurement. The conducted study determined that in case of relatively high (RH) level of galectin-3 in contrast to relatively low (RL) and relatively moderate (RM) levels there was determined a significant increase in IMT meas-urement (1.00 versus 0.88 and 0.90 mm, p=0.02 and 0.04, respectively) and frequency of cases with IMT>0.9 mm (61.4% versus 34.9% and 41.1%, p= 0.01 and 0.03, respectively). In contrast, a similar data analysis, depending on the plasma level of aldosterone, demonstrated slightly different statistical patterns. It has been observed that the IMT measurement and the percentage (%) of cases with IMT>0.9 mm were definitely higher with RH level, compared only with RL level of neurohormone (1.00 versus 0.88 mm, p=0.01 and 61% versus 32.5%, p=0.01, respectively).