[Platelet membrane pathology in vascular complications of type 1 diabetes mellitus].

The purpose of the present study was to define a role of the impaired structural and functional organization of the platelet membrane in the mechanisms of development and progression of vascular complications of type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM). Seventy-seven type 1 DM patients (34 males and 23 females) with different stages of diabetic retinopathy and nephropathy, whose age was 18 to 55 years, were examined. Tlie patients with type 1 DM were found to have pronounced membranous structural and functional changes in the platelets (the increased microviscosity of a lipid phase, the inhibited activity of Na+,K+-ATPase), whose degree correlates with that of vascular complications. Platelet membranous structural and functional impairments are most marked in the phase of decompensation of type 1 DM. Knowledge of the pathogenetic bases of changes in the mlcrorheologlcal properties of blood cells in diabetic microangiopathies permits the use of membrane-stabilizing agents for their correction.