Is the purinergic pathway involved in the pathology of COPD? Decreased lung CD39 expression at initial stages of COPD

Table 2 Morphometric characteristics in pulmonary muscular arteries by study group

	COPD (N = 12)	NOS (N = 8)	NS (N = 12)	p-value
N° of arteries measured by patient	10 ± 4	12 ± 6	8 ± 6	0.203
Artery diameter, μm	306 ± 65	349.33 ± 57.7	333.51 ± 18.8	0.186
Lumen area, % total area	27.7 ± 7.1	35.1 ± 8.2	36.2 ± 9.8	0.046
Intimal area, % total area	37.3 ± 7	29.4 ± 7.1	26.6 ± 11.5	0.018
Muscular area, % total area	35 ± 4.2	35.5 ± 5.9	37.2 ± 11.2	0.782
Index of narrowing^a	0.299 ± 0.032	0.301 ± 0.024	0.307 ± 0.269	0.831

COPD Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, NOS Non-obstructed smokers, NS Never smokers
Data are presented as median ± standard deviation. P-values are for the overall comparison by ANOVA
^aIndex of narrowing was estimated as the ration between the measured total area and the area extrapolated from the theoretical distended diameter: (theoretical diameter = length of the external elastic lamina/pi (π))

ISSN: 1465-993X