Factors Increasing red Blood Cell Aggregation in Men with Coronary Artery Disease

Abstract

Red blood cell aggregation value (AW) was found to be of good diagnostic value ror coronary artery disease. Causes of increased aggregation value were investigated by means of protein analytical methods and standard laboratory techniques in 41 men with angiographically documented coronary artery disease. Best correlation coefficients were found between the red blood cell aggregation value and IgG, precipitable by 25g/1 polyethyleneglycol 6000 (r = 0.536; 2P ≤ 0.001). In coronary artery disease patients with no previous myocardial infarction (N=15) polyethyleneglycol precipitable IgM was found to correlate best with red blood cell aggregation (r = 0.707; 2P ≤ ! 0.01 ). In contrast to these results, patients without coronary stenosis demonstrated no significant correlation between the red blood cell aggregation value and the latter factorsThese results indicate a possible link between coronary artery disease, immune complexes and red blood cell aggregation. Platelet aggregation, as well as the coagulation system may also be influenced by these possibly specific immune complexes.

Red blood cell aggregability is increased by aspirin and flow stress, whereas dipyridamole induces cell shape alterations: measurements by digital image analysis

“…However, this was not observed in perfusions performed in the absence of platelets, thereby suggesting a key role for platelets in this phenomenon. Furthermore, there is a marked increase in the aggregation of red blood cells in patients suffering from thrombotic disorders [30,31], which seems to be in accordance with our findings. The activation of platelets inducing both stiffness and hyperaggregability of RBCs appears to confirm the important role of RBCs in the shift of the peripheral plasma plus platelets layer of the bloodstream [8].…”

Parameters of red blood cell aggregation as correlates of the inflammatory state

“…It is assumed that this process is dependent on both the size of RBC aggregates and the cohesive forces within aggregates, expressed by the shear stress required to disperse them. RBC aggregation is increased in various conditions associated with an inflammatory response (40), including stable ischemic heart disease (6,26,31), acute myocardial infarction (11,16,24), and bacterial sepsis (2,4).…”

The erythrocyte aggregation value as a measure of the risk of myocardial infarction and arteriosclerosis of peripheral arteries

“…The danger of a patient succumbing to coronary heart disease (CHD) or arteriosclerosis is today predominantly estimated by the determination of the so-called "CHD risk factors" (Table I), despite the fact that, at the moment, the precise role of these factors in the etiology of CHD is not clear. We have previously advocated the determination of the erythrocyte aggregation value (Aggregationswert-AW) as an alternative to the measurement of CHD risk factors (Boss et al, 1975(Boss et al, , 1980. The AW is determined by means of electric cell volume determination according to the method of Kachel (1976) and gives a precise discrimination between single and aggregated erythrocytes in the blood of a donor.…”

“…Figure 1 shows the difference in the volume distribution of the erythrocytes of a healthy donor and of a patient with CHD risk factors, respectively. This new method has already demonstrated its prognostic value in assessing the individual risk of CHD in two small series (Boss et al, 1975(Boss et al, , 1980. Therefore, the diagnostic power of the AW test with respect to arteriosclerotic vascular disease has now been investigated in 658 persons.…”