The effect of cholesterol on the electrokinetic properties of erythrocyte membranes in chronic cerebral ischemia

To determine the effects of total plasma cholesterol on the electrokinetic properties of erythrocyte membranes of healthy volunteers and patients with chronic cerebral ischemia (CCI).Authors studied the erythrocytes from venous blood of 95 patients with CCI and 54 healthy people (controls). To perform an electrophoretic cell analysis of erythrocytes, we used the shorthand method of computer microelectrophoresis.Plasma cholesterol level increased with the age. In the control group, there were the increase in percentage of fixed red blood cells, decrease in the amplitude of oscillations and electrophoretic mobility of red blood cells. In CCI patients, a significant increase in the share of fixed red blood cells, decrease in the amplitude of oscillations and electrophoretic mobility were observed compared to the controls. An increase in percentage of fixed red blood cells as well as in the qualitative heterogeneity of red blood cells in the amplitude of the oscillations was identified both in patients and controls, regardless of sex and age, with higher levels of total cholesterol.