title: Erythrocyte stiffness in diabetes mellitus studied with atomic force microscope.
abstract: The mechanical properties of erythrocyte membrane have been studied using an atomic force microscope. Measurements were carried out on blood samples taken from 7 diabetes mellitus patients and 8 healthy individuals. For each blood sample a distribution of a Young's modulus was constructed. It has been found that both the mean value and the width of the distribution in diabetic patients exceed the corresponding results for healthy persons by a factor greater than 3. The high sensitivity of the atomic force microscopy and the ability to measure the full distribution of the erythrocyte membrane Young's modulus makes it a unique, powerful and promising tool in studies of the membrane stiffness of red blood cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Gerontology, Collegium Medicum, Jagiellonian University, Sniadeckich 10, 31-351 Kraków, Poland. Fornal@su.krakow.pl
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fornal
authors.forename: Małgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lekka
authors.forename: Grazyna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pyka-Fościak
authors.forename: Kateryna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lebed
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Grodzicki
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wizner
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Styczeń
mesh_terms: D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000097:blood*; D004907:Erythrocyte Deformability; D004910:Erythrocyte Membrane / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity