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Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Murine Precision-Cut Liver Slices as an Ex Vivo Model of Liver Biology
Published on: March 14, 2020
Plasma and platelet serotonin levels in patients with liver cirrhosis
Dorde M Culafic1, Dusko S Mirkovic, Miodrag D Vukcevic
1Institute of digestive Diseases, Clinical Center of Serbia, Koste Todorovica 6 street, Belgrade 11000, Serbia. dculafic@eunet.yu
Aim:
To analyze the relationship between plasma and platelet serotonin levels and the degree of liver insufficiency.
Methods:
The prospective study included 30 patients with liver cirrhosis and 30 healthy controls. The degree of liver failure was assessed according to the Child-Pugh classification. Platelet and platelet poor plasma serotonin levels were determined.
Results:
The mean plasma serotonin level was higher in liver cirrhosis patients than in healthy subjects (215.0 +/- 26.1 vs 63.1 +/- 18.1 nmol/L; P < 0.0001). The mean platelet serotonin content was not significantly different in patients with liver cirrhosis compared with healthy individuals (4.8 +/- 0.6; 4.2 +/- 0.3 nmol/platelet; P > 0.05). Plasma serotonin levels were significantly higher in Child-Pugh grade A/B than in grade C patients (246.8 +/- 35.0 vs 132.3 +/- 30.7 nmol/L; P < 0.05). However, platelet serotonin content was not significantly different between Child-Pugh grade C and grade A/B (4.6 +/- 0.7 vs 5.2 +/- 0.8 nmol/platelet; P > 0.05).
Conclusion:
Plasma serotonin levels are significantly higher in patients with cirrhosis than in the controls and represent the degree of liver insufficiency. In addition, platelet poor plasma serotonin estimation is a better marker for liver insufficiency than platelet serotonin content.
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