Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 20, 2026

Measuring Deformability and Red Cell Heterogeneity in Blood by Ektacytometry
Published on: January 12, 2018
Influence of hyperglycemia on aggregation, deformability and shape parameters of erythrocytes
1Biomedical Engineering Division, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras-600 036, India.
Abstract:
The hemorheological and morphological changes in blood samples of diabetic patients, with varying levels of hyperglycemia but normal cholesterol concentration, are determined and are compared with healthy subjects. The shape analysis is carried out by shape descriptors based on projected area, perimeter and form factor, as measured by processing of images of erythrocytes. The aggregation and deformability of erythrocytes are measured by sequential variation of the transmitted laser light after passing through the erythrocytes suspension in plasma and passage of erythrocytes suspension in physiological saline through cellulose membrane, respectively. The results show that with the increase of glucose concentration the erythrocytes aggregation is enhanced and deformability is reduced in diabetic patients compared to that of healthy subjects. The shape parameters, which quantify the changes in erythrocytes in diabetes, show significant deviation from the shape of normal cells. A significant increase in the perimeter to area ratio and form factor in hyperglycemia also corresponds to highly significant increase in filtration time (decrease in deformability).
Related Concept Videos
Hyperglycemia
Overview of Carbohydrate Metabolism
Glucose transport into cells is facilitated by a family of transport proteins called GLUT (Glucose Transporters). GLUT4 is the primary glucose transporter for insulin-stimulated glucose...
Hypoglycemia
Proteoglycans
Amyloid Fibrils
Amyloid deposits were observed as early as 1639 in the liver and the spleen. In 1854, Rudolph Virchow performed iodine staining, normally used to...

