Objectives: The changes of blood hemorheology during pregnancy are still the subject of many studies. Erythrocyte membrane deformability (ED) as one of the main components forming blood hemorheology was studied in the present paper.
Study design: The changes in ED were measured in healthy non-pregnant women and in three groups of pregnant women in the first, second and third trimester. The last group consisted of women after delivery. The colloid-osmotic hemolysis method in relation to the change ionic strength was used for ED measurements. The significance of differences was evaluated by the unpaired Student's t-test.
Results: The results revealed that ED during pregnancy progressively decreases but after delivery significantly increases. Statistical differences between means in all three trimesters were significant in comparison with non-pregnant women.
Conclusion: We conclude that the changes of ED are important for the normal course of gravidity and are probably connected to hormonal changes during pregnancy and after delivery.