Figure 3.

A representative RBC from a type 2 diabetes patient (Raw data from [83]. Erythrocyte deformability is often found to be moderately impaired in diabetes mellitus patients, due to several metabolic and hormonal disturbances (glycation and oxidative stress) that may also promote eryptosis. This is an example of “covertly abnormal blood rheology”, which is supposed to induce microcirculatory disturbances. The main glucose-regulating hormones insulin and glucagon have also been reported to exert an influence on red cell deformability, whose pathophysiological relevance remains unclear.