In 36 treated diabetics (15 with insulin, 21 with oral hypoglycaemic agents) without any detectable arterial atheromatous lesion, there was a negative correlation between the filtrability of red cells and blood glucose levels (r = - 0.60) on the one hand and, secondly, glycosylated haemoglobin levels (r = - 0.40). In 17 insulindependents diabetics connected to an artificial pancreas, normalisation of blood glucose was accompanied by a concomitant increase in the filtrability of red cells, and improvement of spontaneous platelet agregation. Good control of diabetes would thus appear to be necessary to reduce the incidence of microangiopathy.