A membrane abnormality in lymphocytes from diabetic subjects.

The fluorescence properties of the hydrophobic probe 1,6-diphenyl1-1,3,5-hexatriene incorporated in the lymphocytes of 30 diabetic patients and 21 normal control subjects were studied. The mean value of the probe polarization was 0.314 for the control group and 0.294 for the patient group. The difference was significant at p < 0.001. The decreased polarization was correlated with the level of plasma glucose in the patients (p < 0.01). Nanosecond fluorescence results obtained from the lymphocytes of 7 patients and 5 controls indicated that there was no significant difference in the probe lifetimes between the two groups of subjects and suggest that the decreased polarization of the probe in the patient group resulted from a more fluid lipid environment of cell membranes.