Effect of temperature on the resistance of individual red blood cells to flow through capillary-sized apertures

Abstract

Low temperature can be expected to increase the resistance to deformation of red blood cells, but the effect of such changes on microcirculatory perfusion are unknown. We therefore analysed resistance to flow through capillary-sized apertures for individual human red blood cells, by micropipette aspiration (approximately 3 μm aperture) and pore transit analysis (approximately 5 μm), as well as average resistance to flow of red cell suspension through multipore filters (5-μm pores). Over a range decreasing from 37 to 0 °C, rates of flow of single cells through the 3- and 5-μm apertures decreased monotonically by 2.5- to 3-fold. The changes were similar in magnitude to that expected for the viscosity of aqueous fluid (2.5-fold increase). Average flow resistance measured by bulk filtration also increased in line with viscosity of water, while tendency to block pores was not increased. Micropipette aspiration of small membrane tongues showed that membrane rigidity increased as temperature was lowered, but by a factor rather less than the viscosity. Cell volume also responded rapidly to change in temperature, with lower temperature being associated with swelling, although this effect was much reduced in plasma compared with saline buffer. We conclude that, although increased resistance to deformation of red cells may impair microcirculation at low temperature, there is no structural change likely to induce more dramatic occlusion of flow. Moreover, the effect is comparable in magnitude to the increase predicted for changes in plasma and blood viscosity.