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Collision frequency of erythrocytes in postcapillary venules
Author(s) -
Zhen Janet,
Kim Sangho,
Popel Aleksander S.,
Intaglietta Marcos,
Johnson Paul C
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.4.a280
Subject(s) - dextran , chemistry , erythrocyte aggregation , biophysics , in vivo , aggregate (composite) , chromatography , biochemistry , biology , materials science , nanotechnology , microbiology and biotechnology , fibrinogen
Erythrocyte aggregation has been well described in vitro but very little is known about the process of aggregate formation in vivo. The purpose of the present study was to obtain detailed information on the process of erythrocyte aggregate formation and its effect on flow patterns in postcapillary venules. The movements of erythrocytes in postcapillary venules of the rat spinotrapezius muscle were studied with a high speed video camera before and after infusion of Dextran 500 to induce aggregation. A collision was defined as a condition in which the distance between the center points of two erythrocytes became smaller than 4 μm. Before Dextran 500 infusion, 65% of erythrocytes collided with other erythrocytes while more than 80% of erythrocyte had collisions after Dextran 500 infusion. Furthermore, before increasing aggregability, the number of collisions was highly variable (0 – 14) while increasing aggregability, more than 60% of erythrocytes collided three times or less before they formed aggregates. Axial migration of erythrocytes was significantly higher after Dextran 500 infusion. We conclude that collisions between erythrocytes are essential to form aggregates but the formation of aggregates reduces the number of particles in the vessel and decreases in the probability of collisions among particles.