Skip Navigation

American Zoologist 1997 37(1):65-72; doi:10.1093/icb/37.1.65
© 1997 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by BIRCHARD, G. F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Optimal Hematocrit: Theory, Regulation and Implications1

GEOFFREY F. BIRCHARD
Department of Biology, George Mason University Fairfax, Virginia 22030-4444

SYNOPSIS. Hematocrit is likely to be optimized because of its influences on oxygen transport. However, optimal hematocrit must also change because shear rates and blood vessel radii within circulations change temporally. Blood vessel endothelia regulate shear stress on their walls by changing their radius. Wall shear stress is dependent on shear rate and viscosity. Because there is regulation of vessel radius by the endothelium it is hypothesized that hematocrit may be regulated near optimal by changes in plasma volume. The implication of such regulation is that changes in vascular volume (blood volume) would occur with alterations in red blood cell mass. Data are presented which indicate that regulation of optimal hematocrit normally occurs through changes in plasma volume. The regulation of optimal hematocrit has significant implications for processes that depend on oxygen transport (e.g., exercise) because of the effect of blood volume on cardiac output.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.