Flickering of fetal erythrocytes membrane under gestational diabetes observed with dual time resolved membrane fluctuation spectroscopy

The membrane flickering of human fetal red blood cells (RBCs) affected by gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) was studied with dual time resolved membrane fluctuation spectroscopy (D-TRMFS). This new technique is a modified version of the dual optical tweezers method that has been adapted to measure the mechanical properties of RBCs at two distant membrane points simultaneously. The micro-rheological parameters were obtained from direct membrane flickering measurements, followed by Fourier decomposition and cell membrane model adjustment. Our results show a significant decrease of 6.01 ± 1.19 nm in membrane fluctuations amplitude in healthy fetal, compared with healthy adult RBCs, meanwhile the amplitude in GDM cells increased 3.22 ± 1.10 nm compared with healthy fetal RBCs. Between GDM and healthy fetal RBCs, there are significant differences, especially in the bending modulus. Considering the mean of the two membrane points measured, the tension for GDM RBCs increased by 6.431 ± 3.57 (10(−7) [N/m]) compared with healthy fetal RBCs, meanwhile, the bending was increased by 2.483 ± 0.58 (10(−19) [J]) in GDM compared with healthy fetal RBCs. These results showed significant increment of 1.23 ± 0.07-fold and 3.29 ± 0.36-fold in tension and bending modulus in GDM, respectively. The strong impact of GDM on bending modulus could be associated with oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation, previously reported in fetal plasma of GDM cases.