The Impact of Elevated Blood Glycemic Level of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus on the Erythrocyte Membrane: FTIR Study

In developed countries, medical awareness about the disease and how to deal with it is less acknowledged. With diabetes mellitus the situation becomes more serious due to the fact that it affects nearly all parts of the body and may lead to loss of vision. In this study, the variation of blood glucose level of type 2 diabetic patients was considered, and its effect(s) on their blood erythrocyte membranes was studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were classified into two groups with mean fasting blood glucose level of 185 mg/dl (D-185 group) and 285 mg/dl (D-285 group). For comparison, healthy individuals were involved where their mean fasting blood glucose level is 86 mg/dl. Type 2 diabetes mellitus was found to induce change in the lipid and protein components and causing some important structural changes in the protein secondary structure with change in the beta-sheet and beta-turn structures at D-285 mg/dl group. Erythrocyte membrane disorder was increased associated with restriction in the vibrational motion around the phospholipids interface region.