title: Hemorheological changes and characteristic parameters derived from whole blood viscometry in chronic heroin addicts.
abstract: A group of 15 chronic opioid addicts (DA) with mean age 26.5+/-7.3 years was studied by means of a rotational Contraves Low Shear 30 viscometer and the results have been compared with a control group of 19 healthy subjects. It was found that the mean whole blood viscosity values of the investigated group of heroin abusers (n=15) were elevated compared to that of healthy persons (n=19) over the whole shear rate range and fell by more than ten orders of magnitude (Savov et al., 2006). The present investigation uses the coefficients of the models of Ostwald-de-Walle (power law) and Herschel-Bulkley law, which describe whole blood flow curves (tau-gamma) within the shear rates range from 10(-2) to 10(2) s(-1) and itself incorporate whole blood viscosity data in the entire shear rate range. A significant difference in the mean yield shear stress tau(0) values of the drug abusers' group compared to the controls was found. A strong positive linear correlation was determined between the parameters of RBC aggregation in the group of heroin addicts confirming our previous results (Ivanov and Antonova, 2005; Savov, Zvetkova et al., 2007; Savov, Antonova et al., 2007) for intensive RBC and platelet aggregation and morphological changes in DA group.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Mechanics and Biomechanics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria. antonova@imbm.bas.bg
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Antonova
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zvetkova
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ivanov
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Savov
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001809:Blood Viscosity / Q000187:drug effects*; D004903:Erythrocyte Aggregation / Q000187:drug effects; D004907:Erythrocyte Deformability / Q000187:drug effects; D004909:Erythrocyte Indices / Q000187:drug effects; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000166:cytology; D005260:Female; D006400:Hematocrit; D018056:Hemorheology / Q000379:methods; D003932:Heroin / Q000633:toxicity*; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012212:Rheology
chemical_list: D003932:Heroin