The effects of fibrinogen and its plasmin degradation products on the rheology of erythrocyte suspensions

The effects of increasing fibrinogen concentration on low shear rate viscosity, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and aggregation characteristics of erythrocyte suspensions were studied. The results show a good correlation between the techniques. The main emphasis however, was on the equivalent effects of fibrinogen degradation products(FDP) generated by plasmin. It was found that the early FDP were less effective than fibrinogen, and that later FDP were even less effective though they still possessed some viscometric influence. On the other hand, when mixed with fibrinogen all the FDP showed quantitatively similar viscometric effects enhancing that of fibrinogen alone.