Changes in Red Blood Cell Membrane Structure in Type 2 Diabetes: a Scanning Electron and Atomic Force Microscopy Study

Overview

Journal Cardiovasc Diabetol

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialties Cardiology & Vascular Diseases
Endocrinology

Date 2013 Jan 30

PMID 23356738

Citations 70

Authors

Antoinette V Buys

Mia-Jean Van Rooy

Prashilla Soma

Dirk van Papendorp

Boguslaw Lipinski

Etheresia Pretorius

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Red blood cells (RBCs) are highly deformable and possess a robust membrane that can withstand shear force. Previous research showed that in diabetic patients, there is a changed RBC ultrastructure, where these cells are elongated and twist around spontaneously formed fibrin fibers. These changes may impact erythrocyte function. Ultrastructural analysis of RBCs in inflammatory and degenerative diseases can no longer be ignored and should form a fundamental research tool in clinical studies. Consequently, we investigated the membrane roughness and ultrastructural changes in type 2 diabetes. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to study membrane roughness and we correlate this with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to compare results of both the techniques with the RBCs of healthy individuals. We show that the combined AFM and SEM analyses of RBCs give valuable information about the disease status of patients with diabetes. Effectiveness of treatment regimes on the integrity, cell shape and roughness of RBCs may be tracked, as this cell's health status is crucial to the overall wellness of the diabetic patient.

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