Monitoring of blood proteins glycation by refractive index and spectral measurements

Monitoring of blood glucose and glycated proteins level is an urgent requirement for diabetic patients. The amount of glycated hemoglobin and glycated albumin depends on blood glucose concentration and reflects the mean glycemia. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of presence of glucose and glycation of proteins on optical properties of water solutions of hemoglobin and albumin with different glucose concentrations. We present the results of feasibility study of the refractive index measurements for water solutions of hemoglobin and albumin with glucose by Abbe refractometer. In addition, absorbance spectrum of water solutions of hemoglobin and albumin with different glucose concentrations has been studied. The experimental results show that the changes of optical properties caused by glycation of proteins can be observed by refractive index and spectral measurements. The refractive index measurements can be potentially applied for evaluation of glycated hemoglobin and glycated albumin amount in blood.