THE EFFECT OF INSULIN AND DIABETES ON GLUCOSE METABOLISM IN HUMAN SKIN
The in vitro effects of insulin on glucose transport and dissimilation were studied in human skin. Slices of skin obtained post-mortem were incubated in phosphate and bicarbonate media with a glucose concentration of 5.6 mM. In both buffers, insulin increased the glucose uptake in non-diabetic skin without affecting the intracellular glucose content. Similar results were obtained for diabetic skin incubated in a phosphate buffer.In bicarbonate buffer, the basal rate of glucose utilization of skin from diabetics was lower than normal; this may have been the result of a defect in the phosphofructokinase reaction. Diabetic skin also had an increased responsiveness to insulin in bicarbonate buffer.Non-diabetic skin incubated in phosphate buffer had a lower basal rate of glucose uptake and a greater responsiveness to insulin than the same tissue incubated in bicarbonate buffer.It is concluded that (a) skin from diabetic humans incubated in bicarbonate buffer had a decreased basal rate of glucose utilization and increased responsiveness to insulin; (b) insulin stimulated both glucose transport and dissimilation in diabetic and non-diabetic human skin.