Affiliations: Department of Internal Medicine and Gerontology, Collegium Medicum, Jagiellonian University, Sniadeckich 10, 31-351 Kraków, Poland | The Henryk Niewodniczański Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Radzikowskiego 152, 31-342 Kraków, Poland
Note: [] Corresponding author: Maria Fornal, Department of Internal Medicine and Gerontology, Collegium Medicum, Jagiellonian University, ul. Sniadeckich 10, 31-351 Kraków, Poland. Tel.: +48 124248800; Fax: +48 124248854; E-mail: Fornal@su.krakow.pl.
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.
Keywords: Atomic force microscopy, erythrocyte deformability, erythrocyte stiffness, diabetes mellitus
