Abstract
The Authors studied the in vitro modifications of red blood cells elicited by increasing concentrations of calcium (Ca), the modifications obtained by the addition of calcitonin (CT), using the Scanning Electron Microscope (S.E.M.). Incubating blood samples with increasing calcium concentrations, echynocytes appear abruptly and become progressively more frequent.
On the contrary echynocytes count decreased when CT (400 ng/ml)was added. These changes are accompanied by modifications of blood filtration, whose impairment due to calcium addition is restored by calcitonin. The in vivo investigation with intravenous calcium loads showed the capability of this ion in impairing filtration times, probably due to worsened erythrocyte deformability.
In vivo CT does not seem to show the clear haemorheological effect observed in vitro, probably due to the different Ca concentrations.
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