Effects of Aspirin on Rheological Properties of Erythrocytes In Vitro

Aspirin is of proven value as an antithrombotic drug. In unstable angina it reduces the risk of death and myocardial infarction by half. Most studies on the mechanism of action of aspirin have concentrated on the effect of aspirin on platelets. In the present study we have tried to prove that there is another biophysical mechanism of aspirin, and that is through the effect of aspirin on erythrocytes. In this study ten blood samples were incubated with aspirin at different concentrations. The fractal dimension of erythrocytes subjected to shear rates from 5 s(-1) to 30 s(-1), in a cone and plate device designed and constructed in our lab, was calculated by processing the images of the erythrocyte. At each shear rate, the fractal dimensions of the erythrocytes were found to be strongly correlated with aspirin concentration. It is suggested that further studies using different biophysical methods must be carried out to detect the other mechanisms underlying the effect of aspirin on different blood cells.