Background: In the blood vessels the impaired hemorheological parameters in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) could lead to elevated flow resistance, increased forces at the endothelial wall and to microvascular disturbances.
Objective: The aim of the study is to investigate the hemorheological variables and the changes of the skin blood flow responses to cold stress in T2DM patients.
Methods: The basic hemorheological parameters: hematocrit (Ht), fibrinogen (Fib), whole blood viscosity (WBV) and plasma viscosity (PV) were examined in 20 patients with T2DM and a control group of 10 healthy age and sex matched controls. The mechanisms of vascular tone regulation were investigated using the wavelet analysis of the skin temperature oscillations (WAST). The degrees of the microvascular tone changes were determined during a cold test in the endothelial (0.02-0.0095 Hz), neurogenic (0.05- 0.02 Hz) and myogenic (0.05- 0.14 Hz) frequency ranges.
Results: Significant increase of Fib and WBV in the patients in comparison to controls was found. The mean values of the amplitudes of the skin temperature (ST) pulsations decreased significantly during the cold stress only in the endothelial frequency range for the diabetic patients.
Conclusions: The results of our study reveal parallel impairment of the blood rheological parameters and the cutaneous microcirculation in T2DM patients.
Keywords: Hemorheology; RBC aggregation; cold test; diabetes mellitus type 2 (T2DM); peripheral microcirculation; red blood cell (RBC) deformability; skin temperature oscillations; whole blood viscosity.