Introduction
The body reacts to numerous health burdens such as injuries, operations, autoimmune diseases, but above all to infections not only locally but also systemically. An essential part of this reaction – the inflammation – is the change in the concentration of certain cells and substances in the blood. Some of them – the inflammation values – are routinely measured in the laboratory for diagnostic and therapy control purposes. Many of them can now be assigned quite precise tasks within the human immune system.
Causes
The C-reactive protein is “the” classical acute phase protein. It is produced in the liver during inflammation and released into the blood. Its task is to attach itself to dead cells and bacteria and thus mark them for macrophages.
Together with the complement system, it also activates an essential component of the immune response, which is imprecise (unspecific), dissolved (humoral), but very fast. Thus, it is an elementary component of the human defense mechanism. Similar to an increase in SPA, an elevated CRP value indicates an inflammatory event, but does not indicate which one.
In contrast to SPA, however, the CRP value rises much more rapidly in the case of an inflammation, and then falls back to a normal level more quickly (after about 1 to 2 weeks). A further advantage of the CRP value is that bacterial infections tend to raise it rather than viral ones, and it can therefore serve as an indication of differentiation. Values of less than 5mg/l. are considered harmless and causes for increased CRP values
Leukocytes
The white blood cells – also called inflammatory cells, defence cells or immune cells – are formed in the bone marrow and are the main component of the human defence system. There are a large number of different representatives that perform a variety of tasks. Some of their mechanisms of action and their interaction are still the subject of intensive research today.
In venous patient blood, the quantities of red (erythrocytes) and white blood cells (leukocytes), as well as blood platelets (thrombocytes), can be determined in a so-called small blood count. The normal amount of white blood cells is considered to be 4000 to 12000 per oil of blood. If more of these are observed (leukocytosis), this is an indication of an infection, but can also be the result of other diseases, such as blood cancer (leukemia).
Long-term consumption of tobacco smoke or long-term use of steroids can also explain a subtle increase in white blood cells. In the course of a large blood count (small blood count plus differential blood count), the percentage of the main genera of white blood cells in their total quantity is determined. This is necessary above all for the clarification of conspicuous leukocyte numbers or in case of suspected blood cancer. An increase in young (rod-core) so-called neutrophil granulocytes (left shift) can be regarded as an indication of bacterial activity.