Abstract

The diabetes induced dyslipidemia may lead to an alteration in RBC membrane cholesterol/phospholipids ratio in diabetic subjects resulting in an alteration in RBC membrane properties. It has been observed in our laboratory that diabetes induced dyslipidemia causes a change in RBC membrane lipid composition in type 2 diabetic subjects. The effect of various oral anti diabetic drugs and or Insulin therapy on diabetes induced RBC membrane lipid alteration is not established. Hence the present work was undertaken to study the influence of anti diabetic drugs and or Insulin on RBC membrane lipid composition in type 2 diabetic subjects. Blood samples from randomly selected type 2 diabetic subjects were collected after obtaining written consent. The plasma lipids as well as RBC membrane lipids were estimated. The study group include normal subjects (group-1), control diabetics diabetic subjects (group-2), diabetic subjects receiving oral drugs (group-3), diabetic subjects receiving insulin (group-4) and diabetic subjects receiving both oral drugs and insulin (group-5). The study suggest an increase in plasma lipid levels with a parallel raise in RBC membrane lipid composition in diabetic subjects and hypoglycemic drugs -insulin combined therapy regime may help to control the diabetic dyslipidemia induced erythrocyte membrane lipid alterations.