Effects of decarboxylated L-arginine on morphofunctional characteristics of the erythron in experimental diabetes mellitus in rats

This paper reports the results of a study of the impact of the agmatine treatment on erythrocyte resistance to acid hemolytic, reticulocyte count and reticulocyte production index, erythrocyte surface architectonics in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Our results indicate that treatment of diabetic rats with agmatine causes a suppression of erythropoiesis and increases the resistance of erythrocytes against HCl-induced hemolysis. It was shown a 10% increase in the number of young red blood cells and 35% reduction in the number of structurally transformed erythrocytes that are capable of restoring normal biconcave disc shape under physiological condition. Our data demonstrate an improvement of morphofunctional state of red blood cells in diabetes and reflect the positive effect of agmatine treatment on erythrone due to the glucose-lowering action.