Muscle Glycogen in Juvenile Diabetes before and during Treatment with Insulin

Abstract

IT is well known that insulin stimulates the synthesis of glycogen in isolated muscle tissue from different animals. Insulin is considered to increase the permeability of the cell membrane to glucose. Direct action on the enzymes responsible for the synthesis of glycogen has also been observed. Low muscle glycogen has been found in animals with experimental diabetes. There are, however, few reports on the muscle glycogen content in normal and diabetic man. The glycogen content in muscle biopsy specimens from normal subjects was investigated by Hildes et al.^1–3 and by Nichols⁴. Hildes et al.^2,3 also determined the glycogen content in muscle tissue from patients with diabetes. No significant decrease was found in the muscle glycogen compared with the normal subjects. Their patients were adults who, in most cases, had been treated with insulin up to a few days before the examination.