Electronic antihemocoagulation.
The purpose of this study is to determine if the volume conduction of electrical current by blood can extend or possibly prevent clotting, and if so to determine where in the clotting sequence the effects occur. The important aspects of these based as follows: All cells and surfaces of the body carry an electrical charge. The magnitude of this surface charge is determined not only by the characteristics of the cells and particles themselves, but also by the liquid or solid in which they are immersed. The majority of the particles within the blood are negatively charged. Although the intima of the vascular system is negatively charged with respect to the adventitia of the vessel, trauma to the vessel will cause the negative charge to become zero or positive with a concomitant thrombosis at that point. An incision into a vessel will result in a positive voltage at the injury site. If the incision is kept negatively charged through application of an electrical current, coagulation at the site will be inhibited and the wound will ooze for many hours. If the current is reversed and made positive, clotting will accelerate. In the laboratory when two oppositely charged electrodes were cemmersed in a beaker of blood, a clot formed at the positive electrode only. If the procedure is carried out correctly, the blood surrounding the negative electrode will have highly effective anticoagulant properties. Furthermore, under similar conditions, leucocytes will migrate toward the negative electrode, thus indicating a change in cell polarity from negative to positive, possibly as a means to combat inflammation. A special bridge circuit and several original test cell designs were developed. Some of the results of this research are as follows: a means to electronically detect coagulation was devised; clotting was extended in excess of 400% by the application of electrical currents; currents below one milliamp per cm2 would not cause any noticeable trauma to the blood as determined by routine clinical laboratory methods. Analysis of the saline compartments resulted in the conclusion that there had not been any migration of the blood components into the saline. However, since the pore size would prohibit the migration of the blood components into the saline.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)