N.s. Selim, O.s. Desouky, S.m. El-Marakby, I.h. Ibrahim, H.a. Ashry,
Volume 7, Issue 1 (6-2009)
Abstract
Background: The study of rheological properties
of blood has special interest since it is a circulating
fluid exposed to shear rates during its life time. This
work aims to investigate the influence of whole body
gamma irradiation on the rheological properties of
rat’s blood. The applied shear rate was from 12 to
375 s-1. Low shear viscosity (up to 100 s-1) depends
mainly on the erythrocytes aggregation while the high
shear viscosity depends on the erythrocytes deformability.
Materials and Methods: Adult male rats were
exposed to 1, 2.5, 3.5, 5, 7 and 9 Gy single doses.
The consistency index, apparent viscosity, yield stress
and aggregation index were increased after exposure
to gamma radiation. The dielectric properties of the
erythrocytes, in the low frequency range (60 Hz to 40
kHz), were measured in order to investigate the
changes in the membrane surface charge. Results:
The results obtained indicate that the viscosity,
consistency index and yield stress increased after the
exposure to the lowest dose taken 1 Gy, and
continued to increase as the exposure dose
increased up to dose 7 Gy and then decrease after
exposure to 9 Gy. The relative permittivity and
relaxation time showed significant decrease after
exposure to the lowest dose and continue to
decrease as the dose increased. Conclusion: The
obtained results can be attributed to the decrease of
membrane surface charge after exposure to gamma
radiation. The decrease in the membrane surface
charge is known to decrease the repulsion between
the cells and increase blood viscosity. Iran. J. Radiat.
Res., 2009 7 (1): 1117