EVALUATION OF THE ROLE OF ERYTHROCYTE DEFORMATION ON ERYTHROCYTES AGGREGATION AND SEDIMENTATION RATE USING HE-NE LASER SCATTERING

Abstract

Background: The erythrocyte aggregation is an important physiological phenomenon in the circulation of blood. It is a basic characteristic of normal blood that plays a major role in the cardiovascular system, especialy in the microcirculation.Objective: To evaluate the role of deformability of red blood cells on the aggregation and sedimentation of red blood cells.Subjects & Method: The present study was carried out on thirty two healthy subjects. Laser scattering method was employed for this study. From scattered light intensity, profiles continuously obtained during aggregation and sedimentation of the aggregated erythrocytes. Different values of erythrocyte deformability were determined and evaluate their effects on each phase of the erythrocyte aggregation and sedimentation, rouleaux formation, one- dimensional aggregate and three- dimensional aggregate formation.Results: Deformability values are expressed in term of rigidity index, the difference between medium and high rigidity index significantly decreased the rate of aggregation and the rate of three dimensional aggregate sedimentation. Conclusion: Variation of the values of erythrocyte deformability from low to medium and from medium to high showed different effects on aggregation and sedimentation stages.Keywords: Erythrocyte aggregation, sedimentation rate, deformability, laser light.