Bansari Sarkar OMII, Irina Volosko OMII, Foster Scott LernerOMII, Terry OMII, Ashleigh OMII

Investigation of glycosylation effects on skin-to-fat tissue water content in persons with diabetes mellitus assessed by skin tissue dielectric constant (TDC)

SUMMARY: It has been estimated by the International Diabetes Foundation that there are about 285 million people around the world living with diabetes and that approximately one third of this population undergo some form of skin manifestations. While patients with type I diabetes are more likely to suffer from autoimmune related lesions, patients with type II diabetes are more prone to cutaneous infections. Ultrasound research shows that diabetic patients have thinner skin and less subcutaneous fat compared to age-matched control subjects, which supports the idea that such biophysical changes may alter the skin-to-fat tissue water content which can then alter skin functions. Literature further supports the idea that the excess supply of glucose leads to non-enzymatic chemical reactions between the carbonyl group of glucose and amino acids of proteins and this glycation of structural and regulatory proteins plays a key role in the pathogenesis of diabetic skin complications such as diabetic ulcer or diabetic foot syndrome. However it is not clear whether the changes in tissue water content affect normal skin maintenance. Since the glycosylation of structural proteins strongly adheres glucose molecules to the protein, a plausible hypothesis is that diabetic persons with higher HbA1c values will have less tissue water content compared with persons with lower HbA1c values. Thus, our main goal is to determine the correlation between skin-to-fat tissue water as measured by tissue dielectric constant (TDC) and HbA1c amongst patients with diabetes. This study may be viewed as a pilot investigation of the possible correlation between these two important parameters.