RESUMO
The increased levels of glycosylated hemoglobin and glycosylated erythrocyte membrane proteins in gestational diabetes could bring about alterations in osmotic fragility in erythrocytes of gestational diabetes during their first trimester. The glycosylated hemoglobin levels in erythrocytes were found to be significantly elevated with a mean of 5.42 +/- 0.77 mg/dl when compared to 3.45 +/- 0.62 mg/ dl in non diabetic pregnant control (where as in non pregnant women the value was 3.4 +/- 0.47 (n = 25)). The mean osmotic fragility (MOF) of control cells was 60.2 + 0.6 mMol/L Nacl and MOF of gestational diabetic cells was 63.93 +/- 0.6 mMol/L Nacl. The mean osmotic fragility, operationally defined as the Nacl concentration for 50% hemolysis, was found significantly higher by 3.9 + 0.01 mMol/L Nacl in gestational diabetes, than in normal cells. The total levels of glycosylated membrane proteins were increased from 50.60 +/- 8.0 in control to 69.14 + 0.47 in gestational diabetes. Therefore it is proposed that the increased levels of glycosylated Hb as well as glycosylated membrane proteins have a role in altering the membrane permeability resulting in increased osmotic fragility of erthrocytes in gestational diabetes.