To investigate the effects of plasma viscosity to leprosy patients in Southern China, we measured plasma viscosity, plasma fibrinogen and total-cholesterol in 71 patients, with a mean age of 63±27.3 years (range, 22 to 84 years), and the duration of their disease varied from 8 to 69 years. Fifty-one patients had multibacillary leprosy (MB) and 20 had paucibacillary leprosy (PB), according to the diagnostic criteria of World Health Organization-recommended multidrug therapy (WHO-MDT). Plasma viscosity was determined using Low Shear 40 (LS40, Contraves, Switzerland). The shear rate was 0-50 (1/s), temperature was 37±1°C. Plasma fibrinogen and total-cholesterol were determined using the fibrinogen kit (Coagrex, International Reagents Corporation, Japan) and Vision pack (Dainabot, Japan). We found plasma viscosity was in high level in the patients with older age of years, and plasma viscosity was remarkably increased in the leprosy patients (1.54±0.17mPa·s), compared with that of healthy volunteers (1.44±0.06mPa·s, P <0.01). Plasma fibrinogen level was396.6±121.4mg/d1, and total-cholesterol level was 143.3±41.8 mg /dl, these levels were higher than those of healthy volunteers (315.6±97.4 md/dl, 131.8±33.4 mg/dl,respectively). These results suggest the plasma fibrinogen level correlates closely with plasma viscosity and the involvement of plasma viscosity plays an important role in the pathogenesis of leprosy as seen in other infectious diseases.

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There have been many reports about the temperature effects on the stability of erythrocyte suspension. On the other hand, pressure together with temperature is an important parameter for the study of this phenomenon. In this study, we have measured erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) under high pressure up to 200 MPa. The ESR in autologous plasma increased with increasing pressure up to 80 MPa and then decreased. Above 160 MPa, the ESR were lower than that at atmospheric pressure. Application of pressure higher than 160 MPa induced the shape change of erythrocytes and their aggregates. The erythrocytes transformed into spherocytes, and aggregates changed in shape from rouleaux to three-dimensional aggregates. These results were discussed from alterations of physicochemical properties, both of the erythrocyte membrane and plasma proteins, under high pressure.

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