AN INVESTIGATION OF VARIOUS FACTORS WHICH AFFECT THE SEDIMENTATION RATE OF THE RED BLOOD CELLS 1

Abstract

Since the work of Fahraeus, in 1921 (1), the phenomenon of the settling of the red corpuscles in blood to which an anticoagulant has been added has been studied intensively by biologists as well as by clinicians. The former have been interested chiefly in determining the mechanism whereby the settling rate of the cells is increased or diminished in certain physiological and pathological conditions, and in studying the various chemical and physical factors which may vary the rate; while the clinical investigators have attempted to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic significance of observed changes in the rate of sedimentation. Preliminary to a renewed effort along clinical lines, we have carried out a series of experiments designed to show the effect which certain factors may have upon the settling rate. The sedimentation tubes used in these experiments contained 1.0 cc. of blood, were 4.0 mm. in diameter, were sealed flat at one end, and were graduated from 0 to 80 mm. They were coated on the inside with a very thin layer of paraffin. All blood samples were collected without stasis and were manipulated entirely under oil.2 THE EFFECT OF VARIOUS ANTICOAGULANTS UPON TEE RATE OF SEDIMENTATION The precipitation of colloids of the suspensoid type by adsorption of an electrolyte and the stabilizing of an otherwise labile system by 1 A portion of the experimental work was completed in 1926 at the Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit. 2 These tubes were 20 mm. shorter than those finally decided upon and described for clinical use in the J. Clin. Invest., 1928, v, 531. 365