Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Dec 11;9(12):e114412.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0114412. eCollection 2014.

Blood thixotropy in patients with sickle cell anaemia: role of haematocrit and red blood cell rheological properties

Jens Vent-Schmidt  1 , Xavier Waltz  2 , Marc Romana  3 , Marie-Dominique Hardy-Dessources  3 , Nathalie Lemonne  4 , Marie Billaud  4 , Maryse Etienne-Julan  5 , Philippe Connes  6
Affiliations

Blood thixotropy in patients with sickle cell anaemia: role of haematocrit and red blood cell rheological properties

Jens Vent-Schmidt et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

We compared the blood thixotropic/shear-thinning properties and the red blood cells' (RBC) rheological properties between a group of patients with sickle cell anaemia (SS) and healthy individuals (AA). Blood thixotropy was determined by measuring blood viscosity with a capillary viscometer using a "loop" protocol: the shear rate started at 1 s-1 and increased progressively to 922 s-1 and then re-decreased to the initial shear rate. Measurements were performed at native haematocrit for the two groups and at 25% and 40% haematocrit for the AA and SS individuals, respectively. RBC deformability was determined by ektacytometry and RBC aggregation properties by laser backscatter versus time. AA at native haematocrit had higher blood thixotropic index than SS at native haematocrit and AA at 25% haematocrit. At 40% haematocrit, SS had higher blood thixotropic index than AA. While RBC deformability and aggregation were lower in SS than in AA, the strength of RBC aggregates was higher in the former population. Our results showed that 1) anaemia is the main modulator of blood thixtropy and 2) the low RBC deformability and high RBC aggregates strength cause higher blood thixotropy in SS patients than in AA individuals at 40% haematocrit, which could impact blood flow in certain vascular compartments.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A–E: Haematocrit (Hct; 1A), red blood cell aggregation index (AI; 1B), red blood cell aggregates strength (disaggregation threshold; 1C), plasma viscosity (1D) and time for red blood cell shape recovery (1E) in patients with sickle cell anaemia (SS) and healthy individuals (AA). Significant difference: *p<0.05; ***p<0.001.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A–C: Blood viscosity hysteresis loop (2A), differences between the two blood viscosity curves of the loop obtained on Fig. 3A (2B) and blood thixotropic index in patients with sickle cell anaemia (SS) at native haematocrit and healthy individuals (AA) at both native and 25% haematocrit. Significantly from AA at native haematocrit: ***p<0.001.
Figure 3
Figure 3
A–C: Blood viscosity hysteresis loop (3A), differences between the two blood viscosity curves of the loop obtained on Fig. 3A (3B) and blood thixotropic index in patients with sickle cell anaemia (SS) and healthy individuals (AA) at 40% haematocrit. Significant difference: *p<0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Barnes HA (1997) Thixotropy - a review. J Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech 70:1–33.
    1. Dintenfass L (1962) Thixotrophy of blood and proneness to thrombus formation. Sogo Rinsho 11:233–239. - PubMed
    1. Franco M, Collec E, Connes P, van den Akker E, Billette de Villemeur T, et al. (2013) Abnormal properties of red blood cells suggest a role in the pathophysiology of Gaucher disease. Blood 121:546–555. - PubMed
    1. Chien S, Usami S, Bertles JF (1970) Abnormal rheology of oxygenated blood in sickle cell anemia. J Clin Invest 49:623–634. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vaya A, Collado S, Alis R, Dasi MA (2014) Erythrocyte aggregation in homozygous sickle cell disease. Clin Hemorheol Microcirc. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources