Relationship between capillary blood flow parameters measured in vivo and microrheologic parameters of blood measured in vitro in arterial hypertension and coronary heart disease

Abstract

Introduction. Blood microcirculation and its microrheologic properties are impaired in cardiovascular diseases. Microrheologic properties are characterized by the red blood cells (RBC) ability to aggregate and disaggregate. Therefore, the correlation studies between RBC aggregation and microcirculation disorders in pathologies are of interest for the development of theoretical concepts related to blood flow and for clinical practice.Aim. To analyze the correlation between capillary blood flow parameters measured in vivo and microrheologic blood parameters measured in vitro in patients suffering arterial hypertension (AH) and coronary heart disease (CHD).Materials and methods. We studied 3 groups of people: patients suffering AH, patients suffering AH+CHD and healthy donors. The characteristic aggregation time and aggregation index were measured in vitro by laser aggregometry. Analysis of capillary blood velocity (CBV) and assessment of the presence and absence of RBC aggregates in the nail bed capillaries were performed in vivo using vital digital capillaroscopy (VDC).Results. RBC aggregation for groups of patients suffering AH and AH+CHD was increased compared to the control group. Thus, in these patients groups, the characteristic aggregation time significantly decreases by an average of (38±13) %. Comparison of the results obtained using in vitro and in vivo methods showed the aggregation index for individuals with high CBV was significantly lower than for individuals with low CBV. The tendency is that the number of aggregates in the capillaries increases with a decrease in CBV.Conclusion. RBC aggregation is increased in groups of patients suffering AH and AH+CHD compared to the control group. The correlation between parameters measured in vitro and in vivo is evident for patients divided into subgroups according to parameters measured using the VDC. The obtained results allow us to conclude that the used methods are applicable in clinical practice.