Abstract
Clotting curves for human blood, plasma and fibrinogen-thrombin solutions were determined by means of the variable-frequency-thromboviscometer (VFTV) and viscoelastorecorder (VER). A maximum stress was observed in curves obtained with VFTV, whereas no maximum was observed with VER. This might be related to the mean shear strain which is 40 times larger in VFTV than in VER and might be responsible for disruption of the polymerization pathway of fibrinogen and/or the gel structure of the clot.
The clotting times of fibrinogen-thrombin systems in VFTV are affected only by thrombin concentration and not shear rate or shear strain; the apparent viscosity of these systems is greatly affected by the shear rate, decreasing rapidly with increasing VFTV frequency of oscillation.
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