Blood and Plasma Viscosity and Microvascular Function in Hemodilution: A Perspective from La Jolla, California1

Surgical Research - A Discipline at the Interface of the Basic Sciences and the Clinic. Festschrift Dedicated to Konrad Meßmer on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday. Editors: A. Baethmann, Munich; G. Enders, Munich; F. Krombach, Munich; N. Plesnila, Munich The efficacy of restoring of blood volume by means of colloidal solutions was established on firm physiological basis when Messmer and co-workers [1] performed a series of pioneering experiments which demonstrated the relevance of the data from Richardson and Guyton [2] on cardiac performance with different blood compositions. The essence of these finding was that as blood viscosity decreased, cardiac output increased maintaining approximately constant the delivery of oxygen to the tissues. The introduction of dextran provided the capstone to the applicability of hemodilution since it furnished a readily available colloid, free of contaminations inherent to the human or animal derived products, which had the desired oncotic and viscosity properties [3]. The study and analysis that led to these accomplishments were based on systemic studies, as methods and models for the analysis of microvascular function were not yet fully developed. Copyright © 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]