Diabetologia

Agarwal, V.; Rastogi, A.; Sagar, P.

doi: 10.1007/BF00279133pmid: 3127260

125 31 31 1 1 V. R. Agarwal A. K. Rastogi P. Sagar Division of Biochemistry Central Drug Research Institute Lucknow India Summary Alloxan-induced diabetes in rats significantly impaired the capacity of the erythrocytes to metabolise glucose in vitro to either lactic acid or CO 2 . Both these metabolic activities were initially insensitive to insulin in normal as well as in diabetic animals; but became responsive when these cells were subjected to insulin and glucose ‘starvation’ for 1 h through incubation in their absence. This action of insulin in starved cells showed concentration dependence and required preincubation with the hormone prior to addition of glucose.

Dimitriadis, G.; Leighton, B.; Parry-Billings, M.; Newsholme, E.

doi: 10.1007/BF00279135pmid: 3280371

125 31 31 1 1 G. Dimitriadis B. Leighton M. Parry-Billings E. A. Newsholme Department of Biochemistry University of Oxford UK Summary The diuretic furosemide (0.5 mmol/l) impaired glucose uptake in the soleus muscle of the rat by decreasing the sensitivity of glycolysis to insulin. In addition, at higher concentrations (1.0 mmol/l) the drug inhibited the basal rate of glycolysis. It did not, however, inhibit the rate of glycogen synthesis except at a concentration of 6.0 mmol/l. Since furosemide has some structural similarities to adenosine, the above effects on insulin sensitivity may be due to its ability to act as an adenosine receptor agonist in muscle. These effects of furosemide in skeletal muscle may contribute to the glucose intolerance following therapy with this and similar agents in man.

Berger, Michael

doi: 10.1007/BF00279125pmid: N/A

Chicheportiche, D.; Reach, G.

doi: 10.1007/BF00279134pmid: 3280370

125 31 31 1 1 D. Chicheportiche G. Reach Service de Diabétologie Hôtel-Dieu Paris France Summary Microencapsulation has been proposed to protect islets of Langerhans against immune rejection in xenogenic transplantation. However, to achieve glucose homeostasis in human diabetic patients, insulin release by microencapsulated islets must increase in response to a glucose load. We microencapsulated isolated rat islets using the alginate-polylysine procedure. Capsule size was found to range from 300 to 800 μm, and microencapsulated islets were separated according to their size. Groups of 10 microencapsulated islets, either small (350 μm) or large (650 μm) were placed in plastic microwells, in minimal Eagle's culture medium containing either 5.5 mol/l glucose (basal) or 16.5 mol/l glucose and 5.5 mol/l theophylline (stimulatory medium). The increase in insulin concentration in the surrounding medium was then serially determined over 30 min: (1) With the small capsules, insulin concentration rose from 199 ±20 to 297 ±58 μU/ml in basal medium, and from 236 ±23 to 510 ±121 μU/ml in stimulatory medium ( n = 10 preparations), the difference between the data obtained with the basal or the stimulatory medium being significant ( p <0.01) from the 5th min onwards. (2) With large capsules, insulin concentration increased from 182±9 to 266±44 μU/ml, and from 216 ±19 to 297 ±34 μU/ml in basal and stimulatory medium, respectively, with no apparent significant difference. The magnitude of insulin secretion in response to glucose by unencapsulated islets was, under similar conditions, seven-fold greater. We conclude therefore that the size of the microcapsules is an essential parameter which has to be considered for the optimisation of the microencapsulation procedure.

Trovati, Mariella

doi: 10.1007/BF00279138pmid: 3350221

Lefèbvre, P.; Andreani, D.; Marks, V.; Creutzfeldt, W.

doi: 10.1007/BF00279139pmid: N/A

doi: 10.1007/BF00279141pmid: N/A

Foulis, A.; Francis, N.; Farquharson, M.; Boylston, A.

doi: 10.1007/BF00279132pmid: 3127259

125 31 31 1 1 A. K. Foulis N. D. Francis M. A. Farquharson A. Boylston Departments of Pathology Royal Infirmary Glasgow Departments of Pathology St. Mary's Hospital London UK Summary A 22-year-old Chinese male died in hyperglycaemic coma following a 36-h illness. The only significant pathological findings were in the pancreas where there was a heavy diffuse infiltrate of lymphocytes admixed with numerous eosinophils, macrophages and polymorphs. There appeared to have been massive, recent, synchronous necrosis of insulin-secreting B cells with no destruction of any other pancreatic parenchymal cells. The biochemical findings of severe hyperglycaemia, insulinopoenia, but a normal glycosylated HbA 1 were compatible with an acute onset to the patient's diabetes. These features contrast with the very much slower destruction of B cells associated with insulitis seen in “classical” Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes.

Yamanouchi, T.; Akanuma, H.; Nakamura, T.; Akaoka, I.; Akanuma, Y.

doi: 10.1007/BF00279131pmid: 3350220

125 31 31 1 1 T. Yamanouchi H. Akanuma T. Nakamura I. Akaoka Y. Akanuma The Second Department of Internal Medicine University of Teikyo Japan Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences University of Tokyo Japan Research Laboratories Pharmaceuticals Group Nippon Kayaku Co., Ltd. Japan Institute for Diabetes Care and Research Asahi Life Foundation Tokyo Japan Summary The plasma concentration of 1,5-anhydro-D-glucitol (AG)(1-deoxyglucose) is known to decrease in diabetic patients. In order to evaluate the usefulness of this polyol as a diabetic marker, we examined the specificity of the plasma AG reduction in various diseases: the plasma AG level was determined in 108 newly diagnosed diabetic patients, 229 normal subjects and 200 patients with various other disorders. The mean plasma AG concentration in diabetes mellitus was 1.9±1.8 μg/ml (mean±SD), which was definitely lower than that in healthy subjects and patients with other diseases including some metabolic and hormonal diseases (mean value range: 13.4–28.3 μg/ml). Only the “malignancies” group showed statistically different mean values from that in normal subjects; however, these values were much higher than those of diabetic patients. The AG concentration seemed to be relatively low in some severe by uraemic patients, but is likely to be little influenced by the glomerular filtration rate. Upon adjustment for sex and age, AG concentration was not found to be correlated with the degree of obesity in both healthy subjects and diabetic patients. The plasma AG concentration showed a tendency to be higher in healthy males than in healthy females in all age-matched groups; however, statistically significant differences were not seen. Also, no significant influence of age was observed.

Elliott, R.; Reddy, S.; Bibby, N.; Kida, K.

doi: 10.1007/BF00279136pmid: 3280372

125 31 31 1 1 R. B. Elliott S. N. Reddy N. J. Bibby K. Kida Department of Paediatrics University of Auckland School of Medicine New Zealand Department of Paediatrics Ehime University School of Medicine Japan Summary Diabetes prone NOD female mice were fed diets containing different proteins from just before weaning. Only mice receiving meat meal or casein as the protein source developed diabetes at the rate expected from this colony. Lactalbumin and gluten did not precipitate diabetes except in a small number. Casein hydrolysate in lieu of protein protects against overt diabetes, but only if introduced early. The animals which did not show overt diabetes nevertheless had intermittent trace glycosuria and the majority showed mild degrees of peninsular lymphocytic infiltration.