ABSTRACT
The red blood cell sorbitol levels of 23 healthy subjects and 66 diabetic patients were measured enzymatically. Results showed that erythrocyte sorbitol levels of both IDDM (17) and NIDDM (38) patients with poor control were significantly higher than that of the controls and positively correlated with the coincident plasma glucose concentration, 24-hour urinary glucose excretion and HbA1c. There was no significant difference between the red cell sorbitol concentration of NIDDM with normal blood glucose level and that of the normal group; moreover, red cell sorbitol levels did not sig-nificantly correlated with FBG in both groups. Although there was no significant difference between the FBG of poorly controlled IDDM and NIDDM groups, red blood cell sorbitol levels were significantly different in both groups. This suggested that red blood cell sorbitol level could be used as an indicator of diabetic control.