Using Spectrophotometry to Measure "Blood Glucose"
Absorbance of Non-diabetic and Diabetic “Blood Samples”
In the experiment, I tested the blood glucose level of diabetic and non-diabetic people every 30 minutes starting from right before a meal was eaten up until two hours. I did this by measuring the amount of light absorbed by the solutions through a spectrophotometer. By doing so I found that for diabetics the maximum blood glucose increased more quickly than non-diabetics, which increased and decreased at a steady rate. With this information I was able to determine that the damaging effects of glucose molecules would be higher in diabetics than in non-diabetics. As defined by our laboratory manual, diabetes is when one’s body cannot regulate the amount of glucose being carried to the circulatory system. This can affect the human body in many ways. Some have defined diabetes as “multi-systematic”, it can affect numerous parts of the body. Some of these negative effects include heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney problems, and nerve damage (Effects of Diabetes, 2009). Because of the wide variety of risks diabetes puts a person under, it is important to study it and compare diabetic blood to non-diabetic blood in order to have a deeper understanding of what it is doing to the body. With the experiment I hypothesized that the diabetic blood would have a higher absorbance reading than the non-diabetic. The first step in determining the absorbance for the blood samples for comparison was to measure the amount of light absorbed by each solution. I used a spectrophotometer to do so. I had a sample from immediately before a meal, 30 minutes after, one hour later, an hour and a half later, and then finally two hours after the meal. After recording the absorbance percentages of all my blood samples I created a line graph in order to physically see the trends and differences between the blood glucose levels of the diabetic and non-diabetic blood. As one can see on Figure 1, the diabetic
In the experiment, I tested the blood glucose level of diabetic and non-diabetic people every 30 minutes starting from right before a meal was eaten up until two hours. I did this by measuring the amount of light absorbed by the solutions through a spectrophotometer. By doing so I found that for diabetics the maximum blood glucose increased more quickly than non-diabetics, which increased and decreased at a steady rate. With this information I was able to determine that the damaging effects of glucose molecules would be higher in diabetics than in non-diabetics. As defined by our laboratory manual, diabetes is when one’s body cannot regulate the amount of glucose being carried to the circulatory system. This can affect the human body in many ways. Some have defined diabetes as “multi-systematic”, it can affect numerous parts of the body. Some of these negative effects include heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney problems, and nerve damage (Effects of Diabetes, 2009). Because of the wide variety of risks diabetes puts a person under, it is important to study it and compare diabetic blood to non-diabetic blood in order to have a deeper understanding of what it is doing to the body. With the experiment I hypothesized that the diabetic blood would have a higher absorbance reading than the non-diabetic. The first step in determining the absorbance for the blood samples for comparison was to measure the amount of light absorbed by each solution. I used a spectrophotometer to do so. I had a sample from immediately before a meal, 30 minutes after, one hour later, an hour and a half later, and then finally two hours after the meal. After recording the absorbance percentages of all my blood samples I created a line graph in order to physically see the trends and differences between the blood glucose levels of the diabetic and non-diabetic blood. As one can see on Figure 1, the diabetic
Cited: Jackson, R., and A. Dobson. "Blood Glucose and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in the Asia Pacific Region." Diabetes Care 27.12 (2004): 2836-842. Web. Suckale, Jakob. "Idealized Curves of Human Blood Glucose and Insulin Concentrations during the Course of a Day Containing Three Meals." Chart. Solimena Lab and Review Suckale Solimena 2008 Frontiers in Bioscience. Vol. 13. N.p.: n.p., 1998. 7156. Web. 23 Mar. 2013. "Welcome to Effects of Diabetes Website." Effects of Diabetes. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2013.