Oxidative-Stress-Related Alterations in Metabolic Panel, Red Blood Cell Indices, and Erythrocyte Morphology in a Type 1 Diabetic Rat Model

Diabetes mellitus is often associated with vascular complications in which hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress may be the cause of the impaired vessels and circulating blood cells. The aim of this study was to follow the hyperglycemia-related metabolic and morphological changes in blood and urine samples of Wistar rats. Animals were divided into streptozotocin-induced diabetic (acute and chronic), insulin-treated diabetic, reversed diabetic, and control groups. In chronic diabetic rats, decreases in albumin, total protein, and antioxidant glutation concentration were measured, while glutamic-pyruvic transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, red blood cell (RBC) count, hematocrit, and hemoglobin levels were increased. Moreover, an increased level of the phenotypic variants was detected in the RBC population of the diabetic animals. In conclusion, we verified the sensitivity of RBCs to long-lasting hyperglycemia, and to insulin deficiency, which were both accompanied with an increased level of RBC-derived parameters and the presence of eccentrocytes, hemolyzed RBCs, and codocytes. Moreover, our results show that the response of the RBC glutation system to oxidative stress depends on the duration of hyperglycemia, and that the short-term activation of this defense system is exhausted in a long-lasting oxidative environment. Insulin therapy was effective in the case of most parameters, which clearly emphasizes the importance of maintaining blood glucose at physiological level.