Abstract
The aim of our work was to analyze the hemorheological parameters following partial hepatectomy in rats with chronic Al-intoxication (Al). Male Wistar rats were randomly assigned into four experimental groups (n=6 each one): Sham (rats subjected to simulated surgery); Al+Sham; Partial Hepatectomy (animals subjected to 65% liver resection) and Al+Partial Hepatectomy. Our results show that both Partial Hepatectomy and Al treatment produce a decrease of plasma cholesterol level, which showed a negative association with Rigidity Index increase (rs=−0.6475, p<0.05). The increase of Rigidity Index observed in Partial Hepatectomy, Al+Sham and Al+Partial Hepatectomy could be related to the increase of the proportion of non-discocytic erythrocytes, particularly stomatocytes, which determines a diminution of the Morphological Index. In the Altreated groups, greater changes in Rigidity Index and Morphological Index were observed. The relative viscosity of blood at a standard haematocrit of 40% was increased in Partial Hepatectomy, Al+Sham and Al+Partial Hepatectomy as compared to Sham, due to erythrocyte rigidity. On the other hand, we observed that the increase of plasma fibrinogen concentration correlates with augmentation of plasma viscosity (rs=0.689, p=0.004) for all the experimental groups studied. The results indicate that both administration of Al and Partial Hepatectomy induce microcytic hypocromic anaemia in the rats reflected by a significant decrease of haematocrit, mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration. From these results, we conclude that in partially hepatectomized, Al-overloaded rats the decrease in erythrocyte deformability may be an important factor leading to the installation of anaemia.