Abstract
We have measured deformability of leucocyte subpopulations by a filtration method in long-standing type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients and in type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetic patients compared with control subjects to determine if leucocyte deformability is impaired in diabetes, particularly in association with microvascular complications.
Mononuclear leucocytes deformed less readily than polymorphonuclear leucocytes in both diabetic and non-diabetic subjects. There was no significant difference in either mononuclear or polymorphonuclear deformability between either group of diabetic patients and control subjects, but there was a significant association of age with both decreasing mononuclear and polymorphonuclear deformability.
Diabetes does not adversely affect leucocyte deformability and therefore altered leucocyte rheology is unlikely to be causally related to microvascular complications in longstanding diabetes. However increased leucocyte rigidity associated with advancing age could have detrimental effects on microvascular perfusion, which may be a determinant of organ damage in patients with macro and/or microvascular disease.
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