Morphological and functional differences in haemostatic axis between kidney transplanted and end‐stage renal disease patients

Summary End‐stage renal disease (ESRD) is characterized by several atherothrombotic abnormalities, and kidney transplant seems to improve most of them. However, because it is not clear which mechanism is responsible for such improvement, our purpose was to clarify that point.We conducted a cross sectional study involving 30 ESRD patients, 30 ESRD kidney‐transplanted patients (Ktx) and 30 healthy controls (C) to evaluate platelet morphology and function, atherothrombotic profile, endothelial abnormalities and cytokine levels involved in the insulin resistance/endothelial dysfunction. (i) Platelet morphology: The ESRD group showed platelet size similar to the other two groups (ESRD = 3518 × 103 ± 549 × 103 nm2, C = 3075 × 103 ± 197 × 103 nm2, Ktx = 2862 × 103 ± 205 × 103 nm2) with similar platelet granules and number. (ii) Platelet surface glycoprotein: The CD41 and P‐Selectin were similar between groups. (iii) Platelet intracellular calcium: Resting intracellular calcium was statistically higher in ESRD compared to the C group (ESRD = 182.1 ± 34.5, Ktx = 126.7 ± 14.1, C = 72.0 ± 11.0 nM, P