Blood cell rheology in acute cerebral infarction

Recently it has been hypothesized that leukocyte rheology could be a relevant variable of the microcirculation during cerebral ischemia. However, relatively few studies have been carried out on the rheologic behavior of leukocytes in vascular diseases. This study aimed at quantifying the filterability through Nuclepore filters (mean pore diameter 5 microns) of both leukocyte subpopulations and red blood cells in patients with acute stroke compared with age-matched healthy controls. Leukocytes were separated by density into polymorphonuclear and mononuclear cells. Filterability of the red blood cells and polymorphonuclear and mononuclear subpopulations in buffer was measured using a constant-flow and low-positive pressure system. We used one-way analysis of variance, signed rank sum, and simple and multiple regression tests for statistical analysis. Twenty consecutive male patients with acute ischemic infarction were compared with 20 age-matched healthy subjects. Mononuclear cell filterability was impaired in acute stroke (7.26 +/- 2.00) compared with the controls (5.55 +/- 1.23) (p less than 0.01). Polymorphonuclear cell filterability was less, but still significantly (p less than 0.05), impaired in acute infarction (5.75 +/- 0.87 vs. 4.19 +/- 0.43). The results show that leukocyte and, especially, mononuclear cell filterability is impaired in acute infarction, while no differences exist in red blood cell filterability.