Rheological study of blood cells containing haemoglobin S. Physical interpretation of viscosity laws

Abstract

Starting from experimental results given in the literature, changes in viscosity with haematocrit on suspensions of HbS erythrocytes or mixtures of normal HbA and HbS cells, when deoxygenated, are obtained. Laws of an exponential type are derived and the notion of the haematocrit constant playing an important part in the cell-cell interaction is pointed out. Its physical significance corresponds to a variation in the activation energy between the solution and the solvent just equalling the thermal energy.