title: Detection of erythrocytes influenced by aging and type 2 diabetes using atomic force microscope.
abstract: The pathophysiological changes of erythrocytes are detected at the molecular scale, which is important to reveal the onset of diseases. Type 2 diabetes is an age-related metabolic disorder with high prevalence in elderly (or old) people. Up to now, there are no treatments to cure diabetes. Therefore, early detection and the ability to monitor the progression of type 2 diabetes are very important for developing effective therapies. Type 2 diabetes is associated with high blood glucose in the context of insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency. These abnormalities may disturb the architecture and functions of erythrocytes at molecular scale. In this study, the aging- and diabetes-induced changes in morphological and biomechanical properties of erythrocytes are clearly characterized at nanometer scale using atomic force microscope (AFM). The structural information and mechanical properties of the cell surface membranes of erythrocytes are very important indicators for determining the healthy, diseased or aging status. So, AFM may potentially be developed into a powerful tool in diagnosing diseases.
authors.affiliation: Chemistry Department, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Xiaobo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Hongxia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Shuyuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Hongyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Jiye
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006801:Humans; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D008875:Middle Aged