Erythrocytes dynamic viscoelasticity in beta-thalassaemia minor

Beta-thalassaemia is a hereditary hemolytic disease, in which each clinic phenotype encompasses a heterogenic group of genetic alterations resulting in beta-globin chain synthesis decrease or absence in red blood cells. Studies on beta-thalassaemia carriers suggest the existence of decreased red cell deformability. The erythrocyte deformability in the blood stream is a well-known fact regarding blood circulation efficiency. Red blood cells may be considered to be viscoelastic and their behavior may be described according to complex viscoelastic parameters when they undergo oscillatory stresses. This dynamic behavior is physiologically important due to the in vivo pulsatile blood flow. The aim of the present work was to evaluate complex erythrocyte viscoelastic parameters in patients suffering from heterozygous beta-thalassaemia in comparison with healthy individuals. Our results reveal that even though thalassaemia erythrocytes show a decreased deformability in the stationary state, in a dynamic state, hemorheological alterations are only evident at low oscillatory frequencies, i.e., at lower frequencies in contrast with the normal heart rate (60 cycles/min = 1 Hz), producing no significant alterations at increased heart rate.