Rheology of Leukocytes, Leukocyte Suspensions, and Blood in Leukemia POSSIBLE RELATIONSHIP TO CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS

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Abstract

Suspensions of leukemic lymphocytes and myeloblasts and blood of leukemic patients were studied to examine (a) the effect of leukemic cells on blood viscosity and (b) the ability of leukemic cells to traverse channels of capillary diameter. The viscosity of suspensions of leukemic cells was dependent logarithmically on (a) shear strain rate and (b) cytocrit, although, suspensions of small lymphocytes and of myeloblasts had a similar viscosity at equivalent shear rates and cytocrit. The minimum apparent viscosity (MAV) of leukemic cells and red blood cells, measured over shear rates of 2.3-230 s-1 was dependent logarithmically on cytocrit. However, MAV was slightly greater for leukemic cells than for red cells at cytocrits up to 20%. At cytocrits above 20%. MAV of leukemic cells increased more rapidly than that of erythrocytes. For example, at a 15% cytocrit MAVWBC (1.85 centipoise) was only slightly greater than MAVRBC (1.59); whereas, at 45% cytocrit MAVWBC (14.9) was markedly greater than MAVRBC (3.81).

Authors

Marshall A. Lichtman