Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of long-term tobacco smoke administration to rats on whole blood viscosity. Blood samples obtained from rats that had been administered tobacco smoke daily for a period of 10 wk and samples from normal cage control rats were placed in a cone-plate viscometer. Whole blood viscosities were measured at shear rates ranging from 23 to 230/sec. At every shear rate tested, blood viscosity from the smoke-treated animals was significantly higher than corresponding viscosities from the control rats. It is concluded that chronic tobacco smoke administration to rats increases the viscosity of whole blood, both at high shear rates where blood behaves theologically as a Newtonian fluid and at low shear rates where blood displays non-Newtonian properties.