The quantitative and qualitative behavior of hemorheologic factors both at rest and after treadmill exercise in 30 male patients with stage II peripheral vascular disease compared with 20 sex- and age-matched healthy controls have been studied. The aim of our study was to identify functional rheologic markers for peripheral vascular disease. At rest, whole blood viscosity (corrected for hematocrit at both high and low shear rates), fibrinogen levels (4.23 +/- 1.39 vs. 3.23 +/- 1.5), and white blood cell count (7.05 +/- 1.25 vs. 6.03 +/- 1.28) were significantly different between patients and controls. After treadmill exercise, white blood cell counts increased in both patients and controls, whereas only the filterability of mononuclear leukocytes showed a significant variation in the patient group (5.47 +/- 1.54 vs. 7.26 +/- 2.00, p less than 0.002). In this group, mononuclear filterability improved during the recovery period. The results suggest a relation between exercise-induced ischemia of the lower limb and mononuclear filterability in patients with peripheral vascular disease. Mononuclear filterability could be a functional rheologic marker for peripheral vascular disease.
Recently it has been hypothesized that leukocyte rheology could be a relevant variable of the microcirculation during cerebral ischemia. However, relatively few studies have been carried out on the rheologic behavior of leukocytes in vascular diseases. This study aimed at quantifying the filterability through Nuclepore filters (mean pore diameter 5 ju.m) of both leukocyte subpopulations and red blood cells in patients with acute stroke compared with age-matched healthy controls. Leukocytes were separated by density into polymorphonuclear and mononuclear cells. Filterability of the red blood cells and polymorphonuclear and mononuclear subpopulations in buffer was measured using a constant-flow and low-positive pressure system. We used one-way analysis of variance, signed rank sum, and simple and multiple regression tests for statistical analysis. Twenty consecutive male patients with acute ischemic infarction were compared with 20 age-matched healthy subjects. Mononuclear cell filterability was impaired in acute stroke (
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.