Abstract
Recently, anoxia in tissues has been attracting attention as a causative factor in the onset of complications of diabetes mellitus. We determined erythrocyte deformability in diabetics as one of the factors involved in the onset of anoxia in tissues, and studied the changes of erythrocyte deformability, erythrocyte osmotic fragility, HbAI and erythrocyte 2, 3-DPG.
Erythrocyte deformability was determined by an improved filtration method described by Reid et al, and erythrocyte osmotic fragility by a CPC method, HbAI by the microcolumn-chromatography method, i.e. an improved method discovered by Trivelli et al., and 2, 3-DPG by our own modified Ericson's method.
Erythrocyte deformability was 0.53±0.03ml.RBC/min in diabetics, compared with 0.78±0.04ml/RBC/min in normal subjects, displaying a significant decline. A further decline was observed in a group of diabetic patients with severe complications. A significant negative correlation was noted between erythrocyte deformability and HbAI.
Erythrocyte osmotic fragility was 64.3±0.6mOsm, compared with 60.0±0.5mOsm in normal subjects, representing a significant shift to the hypertonic side in diabetics, and a negative correlation with erythrocyte deformability was demonstrated. A decline of erythrocyte 2, 3-DPG was also found in the group of diabetic patients with severe complications.
As described above, the fragility of the erythrocyte membrane and an increase in HbAI seem to be causative factors largely affecting erythrocyte deformability in diabetes mellitus, and it is suggested that a decline in erythrocyte deformability as well as in 2, 3-DPG is involved in the onset of complications of diabetes mellitus.
