Molecular interactions in human nail plate analysed by dielectric spectroscopy

The influence of diabetes mellitus on dielectric properties of the human fingernail was measured in vitro in the α-dispersion region. The frequency dependencies of the permittivity and conductivity for the healthy and the diabetic nail plate revealed three separate relaxations, which were similar for both materials. Significant differences were observed in the values of permittivity at the same frequency between the healthy and the diabetic nails with low water content of about 0% and 3%. Results of this paper suggest that hyperglycemia alters the first-order structure of the nail keratin macromolecule.