Rise in RBC aggregability and concomitant decrease in blood pressure 10 days after injection of the long acting erythropoietin analogue methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin-β (MIRCERA®)
Issue title: Selected papers of the 18th European Conference for Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation (ESCHM), 5-8 June, 2016, Lisbon, Portugal
Affiliations: [a] Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron (IBMM) UMR CNRS 5247, Université de Montpellier, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier, France
| [b] UMR CNRS 9214-Inserm U1046 Physiopathologie & Médecine Expérimentale du Cœur etdes Muscles – PHYMEDEXP, Unité d’Explorations Métaboliques (CERAMM), Université de Montpellier, Département de Physiologie Clinique, Hôpital Lapeyronie CHU Montpellier, France
| [c] Laboratoire de Biophysique & Bio-Analyses, Faculté de Pharmacie, Université de Montpellier, France
| [d] Laboratoire des Courses Hippiques, Verrières le Buisson, France
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Jean-Frédéric Brun, UMR CNRS 9214- Inserm U1046, Physiopathologie & Médecine Expérimentale du Cœur et des Muscles –PHYMEDEXP, Unité d’Explorations Métaboliques (CERAMM), Université de Montpellier, Département de Physiologie Clinique, Hôpital Lapeyronie CHU Montpellier, France. Tel.: +33 467338284; Fax: +33 467338986; E-mail: j-brun@chu-montpellier.fr.
Abstract: Erythropoietin (EPO) is a major regulator of blood viscosity. Its long lasting action analogue methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin-β (MIRCERA®) seems to be also employed in modern doping. We took the opportunity of a study aiming at developing a detection of recent MIRCERATM injection in the context of doping detection to assess the effects of this EPO analogue on red blood cells (RBC) aggregation. A single dose 200 μg of MIRCERA® was injected to 10 male volunteers and blood samplings were drawn over 24 days. After injection a decrease in mean corpuscular volume at day 2 (p < 0.01) and day 10 (p < 0.02), a rise in reticulocyte count (p < 0.001) between day 4 and day 17 and a decrease in ferritin a day 5 (p < 0.05) was observed. Hemoglobin decreased at day 4 (p < 0.005). Hematocrit was unchanged. There was a dramatic (+67%) increase in RBC aggregation index “M” (from 9.49±1.01 to 17.66±1.8, p < 0.01). A decrease in systolic blood pressure was observed during the period from day 4 to day 17 (at day 10: –11.90±2.28 mmHg, p < 0.001; at day 17: –15.80±2.83, p < 0.001). There was also a decrease in diastolic blood pressure, mean and pulse pressure. Correlations between this decrease in blood pressure and “M” did not reach significance but pulse pressure was positively correlated to “M” (r = 0.743, p < 0.05). These data show that the long acting erythropoietin analogue MIRCERA® strongly increases RBC aggregation parallel to a decrease in blood pressure, but a possible causative link between the two events is not clearly evidenced.
