Examination of aggregation of various red blood cell populations can be informative in comparison of splenectomy and spleen autotransplantation in animal experiments.

Using "Furka's spleen-chip" autotransplantation technique, in a follow-up study we investigated erythrocyte aggregation and its influencing factors regarding to asplenic-hyposplenic conditions. Healthy beagle dogs were equally divided into 4 groups: "Sham"- sham operated control, "SE"-splenectomy, "AU-5" and "AU-10"-autotransplantation with 5 or 10 spleen chips by Furka-method after splenectomy. Blood sampling for current investigation occurred on the 12th, 18th, 20th and 24th postoperative months, besides comprehensive structural and functional examinations. In this study we focused on the aggregation properties of erythrocytes in native samples and of density separated "young" versus "old" erythrocytes (Myrenne MA-1 aggregometer). Fibrinogen concentration (Sysmex CA-500 coagulometer) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were also determined. SE group showed significantly elevated ratio of "old" and "young" erythrocyte aggregation index values on the 20th and 24th postoperative months (1.5 and 2.16, respectively) comparing to the AU (1.14 and 1.05) and Sham groups (1.2 and 1.27). In SE group fibrinogen concentration was mildly higher and ESR almost doubled versus control. The greater differences experienced between "young" and "old" erythrocytes may reflect decreased splenic filtration function. Consequently, the comparison of aggregation and deformability properties of "young" and "old" erythrocytes may give important information about the function of the spleen.