Abstract
Muscular ketone body metabolism was studied by the registration of arterial-deepvenous
concentration differences of glycerol, β-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate, and of
muscular blood flow in 53 healthy volunteers and 23 juvenile diabetics. In six subjects
of each group substrate metabolism was also investigated during the intrabrachial
arterial infusion of metaproterenol (0.4 µg/min).
Identical rates of muscular glycerol release and ketone's fractional extraction were
obtained in healthy and diabetic subjects during the basal period. A significant correlation
between muscular ketone extraction and arterial ketone concentration was calculated
in both groups. During the infusion of metaproterenol the diabetics, unlike the controls,
revealed enhanced muscular glycerol output and reduced fractional extraction of β-hydroxybutyrate.
These findings are in line with the present view that the impairment of muscular
ketone body utilisation in diabetic ketoacidosis may at least partly be due to enhanced
muscular lipolysis.
Key words
Muscular Ketone Body Metabolism - Metaproterenol - Forearm - Healthy and Diabetic
Subjects
