Abstract
Diabetes mellitus is associated with an increased tendency to thrombotic diseases. Contributing factors may include red cell abnormalities. The adhesion of erythrocytes from 29 diabetics and 18 controls to endothelial cells was studied. Washed erythrocytes were labelled with 51Cr and added to confluent endothelial cells cultured from umbilical veins in 35 mm Petri dishes. After 30 min incubation at 37°C, the non adherent erythrocytes were removed by sequential washings. The percentage of erythrocytes adhering to cultured endothelium after each wash was significantly increased in diabetics compared to controls (p 0.005). After the fifth wash the mean adherence ratio (% of adhering diabetic RBC/2i adhering control RBC) was 2.32 (range 0.8 - 5.2). Increased adhesion was related to the extent of vascular complications in the diabetics as assessed by a vascular score adjusted for age and not to age or duration of diabetes. These results suggest that abnormal interactions between erythrocytes and endothelium may be one factor contributing to vascular disease in diabetes.
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