Abstract
The red blood cells (RBC) of uncontrolled insulin dependent diabetics are poorly deformable and this abnormality is rapidly corrected at least partially by strict normoglycaemia. Its lipid component plays a major role in the RBC membrane fluidity. Therefore we have compared the RBC membrane content in cholesterol, phospholipid and various fatty acids of 19 uncontrolled insulin dependent diabetics before and after 24 hours of normoglycaemia induced by an artificial pancreas, and of 13 age matched controls. Diabetic RBC membranes contained significantly more cholesterol, less phospholipid, had higher cholesterol-phospholipid ratio, had lower relative content in unsaturated fatty acids (C 18:2 n-6 ; C 20:3 n-6 ; C 20:4 n-6) higher content in saturated fatty acids (C 16:0 ; C 18:0) than the normal ones. All these abnormalities were significantly corrected after 24 hours of insulin induced normoglycaemia.
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