Red cell metabolic parameters and rheological determinants in essential hypertension

Abstract

In a group of 22 subjects with essential hypertension we evaluated the red cell filterability and aggregation, the erythrocyte membrane fluidity and red cell membrane transverse fluidity gradient. We also evaluated the total red cell Ca2+ content, the red cell cytosolic free Ca2+ content, the red cell membrane cholesterol/phospholipid ratio and the red cell membrane individual phospholipids. From our results, it is evident that the macrorheological as well as the microrheological determinants discriminate normals from hypertensives. From our data, a significant increase of the total and cytosolic red cell Ca2+ content is evident in hypertension. In hypertensives, the evaluation of the red cell lipid parameters shows that only the CL/PL ratio plays a discriminant role. The study of correlations between the microrheological determinants and red cell metabolic parameters shows interesting findings.