L-cysteine improves blood fluidity impaired by acetaldehyde: In vitro evaluation

Abstract

Blood fluidity is reportedly influenced by the volume and function of blood cells and plasma and is a predictor of primary cardiovascular events in patients with traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Heavy alcohol consumption was shown to be associated with a higher risk for cardiovascular diseases. Acetaldehyde (ACD), an oxidizing substance formed from ethanol, reportedly stimulates monocyte adhesion, causes abnormalities in the red blood cell (RBC) membrane, and decreases RBC deformability. In addition, it was reported that blood ACD levels are reduced in mice pretreated with L-cysteine. However, there are no studies on the effect of ACD and/or L-cysteine on blood fluidity. In the present study, we evaluated whether ACD impairs blood fluidity. In addition, the effect of L-cysteine on blood fluidity impaired by ACD was examined. Blood samples were obtained from 10 healthy, non-smoking, male volunteers (age: 23.4 ± 1.2 years, body mass index: 21.8 ± 2.6 kg/m 2 ). ACD or ACD and L-cysteine were added to the blood samples before each experiment. We measured the passage time of 100 μL blood and RBC suspension using Kikuchi’s microchannel method. Percentage of microchannel obstruction and the number of adherent white blood cells (WBCs) on microchannel terrace were counted. The blood passage time, percentage of microchannel obstruction, and numbers of adherent WBCs on the microchannel terrace increased after adding ACD in a concentration-dependent manner, whereas they decreased after adding ACD and L-cysteine in a L-cysteine concentration-dependent manner. No significant effects were observed in passage time for 100 μL RBC suspension after adding ACD and L-cysteine. This study suggested that blood fluidity impaired by ACD might improve after adding L-cysteine.

Effects of L-arginine on impaired blood fluidity after high-intensity exercise: An in vitro evaluation

“…The RBC suspension was prepared using a previously reported method [ 12 ]. Briefly, the blood was layered on a lymphocyte separation solution ( d = 1.119) (Nacalai Tesque, Inc., Kyoto, Japan) and centrifuged at 400×g for 30 minutes.…”

“…We analyzed the percentage of microchannels obstructed by aggregated platelets and adherent WBCs, and we counted the number of adherent WBCs on the microchannel terrace using a previously reported method [ 12 ]. The blood flow through the microchannels was recorded and stored on a digital recorder (BDZ-ZW1700; Sony Marketing Inc., Tokyo, Japan) for offline analysis.…”

“…The passage times of the blood samples and RBC suspensions were defined as the time required for 100 L of the sample to pass through the microchannel array (width, 7 m; length, 30 m; depth, 4.5 m; 8736 in parallel) fabricated on a single crystal silicon substrate within the microchannel array flow analyzer (MC-FAN; Hitachi Haramachi Electronics Co., Ltd., Japan), as previously described [9,12]. After the addition of L-arginine, blood samples and RBC suspensions were kept at room temperature (24 • C) for 30 minutes before the passage times were measured.…”