Effect of insulin on human erythrocyte membrane fluidity in diabetes mellitus

The effect of insulin in vitro on the fluidity of the human erythrocyte membrane in Type I (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients and healthy control subjects was investigated using a fluorescence technique. It was found that the addition of 10(-9) mol/l porcine insulin significantly increased fluorescent probe lateral mobility in the membrane lipid layer but did not appear to produce any conformational changes of membrane proteins.