Altered Erythrocyte Glycolytic Enzyme Activities in Type-II Diabetes

The activity of enzymes of glycolysis has been studied in erythrocytes from type-II diabetic patients in comparison with control. RBC lysate was the source of enzymes. In the diabetics the hexokinase (HK) activity increased 50 % while activities of phosphoglucoisomerase (PGI), phosphofructokinase (PFK) and aldolase (ALD) decreased by 37, 75 and 64 % respectively but were still several folds higher than that of HK. Hence, it is possible that in the diabetic erythrocytes the process of glycolysis could proceed in an unimpaired or in fact may be augmented due to increased levels of G6P. The lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity was comparatively high in both the groups; the diabetic group showed 85 % increase. In control group the HK, PFK and ALD activities showed strong positive correlation with blood sugar level while PGI activity did not show any correlation. In the diabetic group only PFK activity showed positive correlation. The LDH activity only in the control group showed positive correlation with marginal increase with increasing concentrations of glucose.