title: Red cell deformability and adaptation in cholesterol-fed guinea pigs.
abstract: The flow of dietary cholesterol-loaded guinea-pig erythrocytes was observed in a glass capillary viscometer at wall shear stresses of 2 and 56 dynes/cm2. The viscosity of a suspension of red cells (H = 56 vol%) in a Ringer-albumin solution served as an estimate of the red cell deformation. It was found that dietary cholesterol did not significantly alter red cell deformability. The serum of cholesterol-fed animals showed higher sphering properties (possibly due to a higher concentration of lysolecithin) when incubated under the same conditions as the serum from control animals. When cholesterol-loaded red cells came into contact with the sphering agent lysolecithin, reduced flow properties were exhibited during prolonged contact, whereas erythrocytes from controls adapted to lysolecithin.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004906:Erythrocyte Count; D004910:Erythrocyte Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000187:drug effects*; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D006400:Hematocrit; D008244:Lysophosphatidylcholines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012156:Reticulocytes / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary; D008244:Lysophosphatidylcholines; D002784:Cholesterol