BLOOD-VISCOSITY COMPARISON AND RED-BLOOD- CELLS AGGREGATION IN 3 SPECIES (HUMAN, PIG, SHEEP) BEFORE AND AFTER ADDITION OF CONTRAST-MEDIUM

We compared viscosity of blood and red blood cells aggregation in thre e species (human, pig, sheep) before and after addition of iodinated c ontrast medium (CM) (loxaglate, a ionic CM, or lopromide, a non ionic one). We observed that both CM diminushes viscosity at all shear rates in the three species, since they dilute the blood. However at low she ar rates and for low CM concentration (around 10 %), we observed for b oth CM a light elevation of viscosity related to an increase of RBC ag gregation. Both CM induced a similar aggregation of human blood and pi g blood, more prononced for the ionic CM. We conclude that pig is the most fitted animal model to do in vivo studies of CM-blood miscibility .