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Can fingernail quality predict bone damage in Type 2 diabetes mellitus? a pilot study
Praveer Sihota1, Rimesh Pal2, Ram Naresh Yadav1
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Rupnagar, Punjab, India.
Plos One
|September 30, 2021
Summary
Type 2 diabetes mellitus degrades bone and fingernail properties. Fingernail analysis may offer a non-invasive method to assess bone quality in diabetic patients, though more research is needed.
Area of Science:
- Biomaterials Science
- Orthopedics
- Endocrinology
Background:
- Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) negatively impacts bone health, and standard bone mineral density (aBMD) measures are insufficient for assessing bone strength in these patients.
- A need exists for novel diagnostic methods to accurately evaluate bone tissue quality in individuals with T2DM.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between bone and fingernail material/compositional properties in patients with T2DM.
- To explore the potential of fingernails as non-invasive biomarkers for bone quality in T2DM.
Main Methods:
- Femoral head and fingernail samples were collected from 25 adult females with fragility fractures (with/without T2DM).
- Trabecular bone was analyzed using micro-CT.
- Nanoindentation and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to assess material and compositional properties of bone and fingernails.
Main Results:
- Diabetic patients showed lower bone volume fraction, fewer and thinner trabeculae compared to non-diabetic individuals.
- Both bone and fingernails in T2DM patients exhibited reduced modulus, lower hardness, decreased protein content (Amide I/II ratio), higher sugar-to-matrix ratio, and elevated carboxymethyl-lysine (CML) content.
- Higher HbA1c levels correlated positively with sugar-to-matrix ratio and CML content in both bone and fingernails. Bone and fingernail glycation levels were positively correlated.
Conclusions:
- Bone and fingernail degradation patterns are linked in individuals with T2DM.
- Fingernail compositional and material properties may serve as a non-invasive surrogate marker for bone quality in T2DM.
- Further large-scale studies are warranted to validate these findings.
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