Oxidative coagulopathy A proposed pathogenetic mechanism for environmental illness Available to Purchase

Freshly prepared, unstained peripheral blood smears from 46 of 50 patients with chronic environmental illness showed clear microscopic evidence of advanced oxidative injury to all elements of circulating blood. As observed with high‐resolution (15,000×) phase‐contrast and darkfield microscopy, morphologic patterns of oxidative injury to blood components have been designated oxidative coagulopathy, a state of circulating blood comprising: structural abnormalities involving erythrocytes and granulocytes and zones of congealed plasma in its early stages; fibrin clots and thread formation with platelet entrapment in the intermediate stages; and microclot and microplaque formation in late stages. Moderate to advanced changes of oxidative coagulopathy were seen in only two of 15 healthy control subjects. Oxidative coagulopathy begins with oxidative activation of plasma enzymes and leads to oxidative permutations of plasma lipids, proteins, and sugars, and is not merely confined to oxidative activation of recognized coagulation pathways. It is proposed that oxidative coagulopathy represents one of the core pathogenetic mechanisms of homeostatic dysregulation seen in environmental illness and leads to oxidative injury to intracellular matrix, cell membranes, and intracellular organelles such as mitochondria. The observed cellular and plasma changes shed considerable light on many aspects of the macroecologic toxicants and their cellular targets, as well as the microecologic oxidants and their molecular targets. Oxidative coagulopathy is a powerful explanation of the production of symptom‐complexes characteristically encountered in environmental illness.