Erythrocyte membrane lipid profile in children and adolescents with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and insulin resistance: a preliminary study

In recent years, the prevalence of obesity in children has increased rapidly, resulting in insulin resistance (IR) and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) being diagnosed with increasing frequency. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the phospholipids and fatty acids of erythrocyte cell membranes in overweight and obese children. Subsequently, patients with MASLD and IR were selected. The structural properties of the erythrocyte membrane were determined in the red blood cells using the gas-liquid chromatography method. This prospective analysis included a cohort of 68 children, among whom IR was identified in 72.06% and MASLD in 57.35% of cases. No significant differences in membrane lipid profile were observed between MASLD and non-MASLD groups. Sphingomyelin (SM) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), SM n-6 PUFA, and SM n-6/n-3 PUFA values were significantly higher in the group with IR. The group with homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance > 2.5 also had higher values of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) PUFA, PE n-3 PUFA and PE n-6 PUFA. These findings suggest that insulin resistance may be associated with specific changes in erythrocyte membrane lipid composition. Further studies on a larger group of patients are needed to confirm this association.