Impact of Diabetes Mellitus on Human Erythrocytes: Atomic Force Microscopy and Spectral Investigations

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common metabolic disease indicated by high sugar levels in the blood over a prolonged period. When left untreated, it can lead to long-term complications, such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, and diabetic retinopathy or foot ulcers. Approximately 415 million people (about 8.3% of the world’s population) had diabetes worldwide in 2015, with 90% of the cases classified as Type 2 DM, which is caused by insulin resistance that arises mostly from being overweight and from a lack of exercise. DM affects every part of the body, including the erythrocytes. The aim of the present report is to gain insight into the damage done to the erythrocytes of patients classified with pre-diabetes and diabetes (plenty are found in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a country where young people encompass a large segment of the population). The study presents results on the morphological analysis of erythrocytes by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and molecular investigations by fluorescence spectroscopy (FS). Our results indicate significant differences (in the morphology, size, and hemolytic end products) between the erythrocytes of diabetic patients (HbA1C, glycated hemoglobin, levels of 8–10%) and normal controls. It is well-known that DM and smoking are two major contributory factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), and our observations presented in this study suggest that diabetes plays a relatively less damaging role than smoking for CVD.