Erythrocyte aggregation in diabetes patients with hyper cholesterol increases microvascular complications: Study

Tamil Nadu: A recent study in the journal Thrombosis Update found that in type 2 diabetes with hyper cholesterol, erythrocyte aggregation may increase the microcirculatory complications versus diabetes with normal cholesterol. 

Many studies have been done on the aggregation of erythrocytes in many pathological conditions like malaria, diabetes mellitus, hyper cholesterol, jaundice, etc. Different types of erythrocyte aggregation occur in different pathological conditions. Increased aggregation was found in pathological conditions versus control subjects. 

Against the above background, N.Babu, Vinayaka Missions Kirupanantha Variyar Engineering College, Vinayaka Missions Research Foundation, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India, aimed to study the aggregation of erythrocytes in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients without cholesterol and with cholesterol and to compare such subjects with healthy subjects.

For this purpose, the researchers determined aggregation of erythrocytes using an online erythrocyte aggregometer based on sequential analysis of transmitted laser light intensity after passing through the erythrocyte suspension in plasma. The aggregation mechanism was determined in terms of various aggregation parameters such as aggregation sedimentation time index (ASTI), aggregation size index (ASI), and the total number of fluctuations (TNF) of erythrocyte aggregates. The dynamic nature of the aggregation process under gravitation quantitatively was described using these parameters