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Haemorheology Of The Eastern Grey Kangaroo And The Tasmanian Devil, Michael Simmonds, Oguz Baskurt, Herbert Meiselman, Michael Pyne, Michael Kakanis, Ekua Brenu, James Keane, Rhys Christy, Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik
Haemorheology Of The Eastern Grey Kangaroo And The Tasmanian Devil, Michael Simmonds, Oguz Baskurt, Herbert Meiselman, Michael Pyne, Michael Kakanis, Ekua Brenu, James Keane, Rhys Christy, Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik
Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik
The blood of two Australian marsupials, the eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) and the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), has been reported to have greater oxygen-carrying capacity (i.e. haemoglobin content) when compared with that of placental mammals. We investigated whether alterations of blood rheological properties are associated with the increased oxygen-carrying capacity of these marsupials. Eastern grey kangaroos (n = 6) and Tasmanian devils (n = 4) were anaesthetised for blood sampling; human blood (n = 6) was also sampled for comparison. Laboratory measurements included blood and plasma viscosity, red blood cell (RBC) deformability, RBC aggregation and the intrinsic tendency of …