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Abstract

Obesity is a heterogeneous condition of variable aetiology, generally associated with pathologies such as arterial hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes and cardiac disease. These conditions, either themselves or because of the various treatments used, may further modify blood rheology in an arbitrary manner. Therefore, analyses of changes in the blood rheology induced by obesity in humans have had differing and controversial results. In our laboratory, a model of hypertriglyceridaemic obesity is provided by an inbred rat strain; the beta genotype from the IIMb/Fm strain, presenting a syndrome of moderate obesity with apparent peripubertal onset, associated with hypertriglyceridaemia and glucose intolerance that turns into diabetes. The alpha genotype, originated from the same IIM/Fm stock, represents the control. The present study describes a comparative analysis of the variables determining the rheological behaviour of the blood in obese and control strains. Our results, agreeing with some other studies performed in humans, confirmed the haemorheological changes associated with obesity, and the fact that these changes became more evident in the presence of pathologies such as diabetes. It appears that triglyceridaemia. cholesterolaemia and hyperglycaemia may influence the rheological behaviour of the cell membrane and this damage may provoke a decrease in erythrocyte deformability and, consequently, hyperviscosity of the blood.

Prolonged diet-induced obesity in mice modifies the inflammatory response and leads to worse outcome after stroke

“…These changes in blood cell number could potentially result in raised blood viscosity, although this remains to be determined here. Previous studies have shown that high-fat feeding in animals can significantly increase the number of WBC in specific lymphocyte subtypes and enhance blood viscosity [ 25 – 27 ]. As elevated haematocrit is associated with worse outcome in stroke patients [ 28 , 29 ] and after experimental stroke in mice [ 30 ], these changes in blood cell number after high-fat feeding might contribute to worse outcome in obese mice.…”

Cyclosporin A-Associated Changes in Red Blood Cell Membrane Composition, Deformability, Blood and Plasma Viscosity in Rats

“…For instance, RBC aggregability, which is induced by fibrinogen, is well documented [39]. Similarly, blood and plasma viscosity are influenced by the concentration of lipid fractions, such as total CHO, LDL, or the triglyceride [13, 40, 41, 42, 43]. It was also shown that high-density lipoprotein (HDL) has an inverse correlation to RBC deformability [13].…”