title: Impaired deformability of circulating erythrocytes obtained from nondiabetic hypertensive patients: investigation by a nickel mesh filtration technique.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hypertension is associated with microcirculatory disturbance, and erythrocyte deformability is a major determinant of the microcirculation. However, impairment of erythrocyte deformability in hypertensive patients in relation to antihypertensive treatment is unclear. The present study aimed to investigate this impairment in hypertensive patients under treatment using a highly sensitive and quantitative nickel mesh filtration technique.
  
  
  METHODS
  Deformability was evaluated by filterability, defined as the flow rate of a hematocrit-adjusted erythrocyte suspension relative to that of saline under a specific filtration pressure in a pressure-flow curve obtained by continuous filtration. Baseline characteristics of hypertensive patients (n = 101) and age-matched normotensive subjects (n = 14) were obtained from medical records, and diabetic patients were excluded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Erythrocyte deformability in the hypertensive group was significantly (p = 0.010) lower (87.8 ± 2.2 %) than that of the normotensive group (89.4 ± 1.7 %) and inversely proportional (r = -0.303, p = 0.002) to the mean blood pressure (BP) measured on blood sampling for the filtration study. Stepwise multiple regression analysis demonstrated that this impairment was mostly attributable to the mean BP (p = 0.001), whereas current smoking and episodes of stroke or coronary artery disease were not contributors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings indicate that erythrocyte deformability is impaired in the hypertensive patients, which depends on the current BP control rather than target organ damage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 812-8582 Japan.
authors.forename: Keita
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Odashiro
authors.affiliation: BOOCS Clinic, Fukuoka, 812-0025 Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 812-8582 Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arita
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Art and Science, Kyushu University, Kasuga Kohen 6-1, Kasuga, 816-8580 Japan.
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maruyama
authors.affiliation: Institute of Rheological Function of Foods Co., Ltd, Hisayama, 811-2501 Japan.
authors.forename: Takehiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujino
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 812-8582 Japan.
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akashi
keywords: Deformability; Erythrocytes; Filtration; Hypertension