Hyperinsulinaemia and insulin insensitivity: studies in subjects with insulinoma

Abstract

Hepatic glucose turnover, peripheral insulin sensitivity and insulin receptor binding were measured in four subjects with insulinoma before and 3 months after surgical resection of the insulinoma. Basal hepatic glucose production, quantitated employing a primed constant infusion of tritiated glucose, was low pre-operatively (5.2±1·7μmol·kg-1· min-1) but returned to normal post-operatively (14.9±2.8; normal subjects 13.9±0.8 μmol·kg-1·min-1). Paired euglycaemic dose-response curves were developed for each subject. Insulin sensitivity, expressed as a right shift of the dose-response curve (ED50), was low pre- and post-operatively. However, insulin responsiveness (Vmax) remained normal (pre-ope..