INCREASES IN CORE TEMPERATURE COUNTERBALANCE EFFECTS OF HEMOCONCENTRATION ON BLOOD VISCOSITY DURING PROLONGED EXERCISE IN THE HEAT

Previous studies have reported that blood viscosity is significantly increased following exercise. However, these studies measured both pre- and post-exercise blood viscosity at 37 °C even though core and blood temperatures would be expected to have increased during the exercise. Consequently, the effect of exercise-induced hyperthermia on mitigating change in blood viscosity may have been missed. The purpose of this study was to isolate the effects of exercise-induced hemoconcentration and hyperthermia, as well as determine their combined effects, on blood viscosity. Nine subjects performed 2 h of moderate-intensity exercise in the heat (37 °C, 40% rH), which resulted in significant increases from pre-exercise values for rectal temperature (37.11 ± 0.35 °C to 38.76 ± 0.13 °C), hemoconcentration (hematocrit = 43.6 ± 3.6% to 45.6 ± 3.5%), and dehydration (Δbody weight = −3.6 ± 0.7%). Exercise-induced hemoconcentration significantly (P < 0.05) increased blood viscosity by 9% (3.97 to 4.30 cP at 300 s −1 ) while exercise-induced hyperthermia significantly decreased blood viscosity by 7% (3.97 to 3.70 cP at 300 s −1 ). However, when both factors were considered together, there was no overall change in blood viscosity (3.97 to 4.03 cP at 300 s −1 ). The effects of exercise-induced hemoconcentration, increased plasma viscosity, and increased red blood cell aggregation, all of which increased blood viscosity, were counterbalanced by increased RBC deformability (e.g., RBC membrane shear elastic modulus and elongation index) caused by the hyperthermia. Thus, blood viscosity remained unchanged following prolonged moderate-intensity exercise in the heat.