Different Reticulocyte Volume in Diabetes Mellitus Patients with and without Hypercholesterolemia and/or Hypertriglyceridemia
PORNTIP BUNYARATVEJ, M.Sc.*, SURAT KOMINDR, M.D.**, RAEWADEE WISEDPANICHKIJ, M.Sc. ***
Affiliation : * Research Center, ** Department of Medicine, *** Blood Disease Diagnosis Center, Sirikit Medical Center, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand.
Patients : diabetes with normolipemia (DM) (n=l2) and DM patients with excess tri- glyceride (DM-T) (n=7) or cholesterol (DM-C) (n=21) or both (DM-TC) (n=21) were studied. Mean corpuscular volume of mature red cells (Mean±SD = 93.6±5.5 fl) and reticulocyte (119 .I± 12.3 fl) of patients with DM-T was not significantly increased from normal (red cell, 90.0± 3.5 fl; reticulocyte, 115.2±7.3 fl). Plasma triglyceride levels had no significant correlation with red cell MCV, reticulocyte MCV and %Hb Ale. This suggests that high triglyceride levels in DM are not dose-dependent in producing increased MCV of red cells and reticulocytes. Comparing between DM-T and DM-C, red cells and reticulocytes from DM-C patients had significantly decreased MCV (red cell, 85.5±6.1 tL; reticulocyte, 103.8±7.4 fL). Plasma cho- lesterol levels were inversely correlated with MCV of red cells (r=-0.377, p=0.003) and also MCV of reticulocytes (r=-0.418, p=O.OOl). In addition, cholesterol levels showed considerable correlation with Hb Ale (r=0.572, p=0.004). The red cell volume change in DM-C patients may be partly due to the shift in balance of cholesterol exchange between red cell membranes and serum lipoproteins.
Keywords : Diabetes Mellitus, Hypercholesterolemia, Hypertriglyceridemia, Reticulocyte
