Maintenance of Basal Plasma Glucose and Insulin Concentrations in Maturity-Onset Diabetes
Holman RR., Turner RC.
Normal and mildly diabetic subjects each have their own “set” of basal plasma glucose and insulin concentrations. Diabetic patients have raised basal plasma glucose, with low-normal basal plasma Cpeptide concentrations. Restoring normal glucose levels in mild diabetes by an insulin infusion further reduces the C-peptide concentration, but both the plasma glucose and the C-peptide return to their “set” level when the insulin is withdrawn. These results accord with the action of beta cells and liver in a negative feedback loop that maintains basal plasma glucose and insulin concentrations.