Effect Of Maximal Physical Exercise on Hemorheological Parameters in Top Level Sportsmen

Hematological disorders and alterations of erythrocyte deformability have been noticed in sportsmen after strenuous exercise. To try and understand these phenomena, the authors studied blood flow parameters before and after effort. This study involved 47 sportsmen undergoing a 20 min intensive exercise, and 44 controls. The following parameters were recorded before and after exercise: blood filtration, erythrocyte filtration, blood and plama viscosities, ATP, 2–3 DPG, RBC aggregation, biochemistry, NFS, reticulocytes, plasma hemoglobin, complete iron work-up, plasma proteins. Blood and plasma viscosities, hematocrit, leukocytes and plasma proteins were significantly increased (p<0.01) while whole blood filtration decreased (p<0.001); ATP, 2–3 DPG, erythrocyte filtration and saturation coefficient remained unchanged. On first approach, hemorheological disorders do not seem to be caused by an alteration of erythrocyte deformability, but more likely by a tendency to rouleaux-formation noticeable through SEM. These disorders may also result from hemoconcentration (↑ Hematocrit, ↑ protids), from cell demargination and preferential increase in certain plasma proteins after exercise.