Insulin Receptor in Children with Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM)

Abstract

It has been widely accepted that deterioration of metabolism in IDDM results from an absolutedecrease in insulin secretion of the pancreas.There have, however, been only a few studies on the insulin sensitivity of peripheral tissues in IDDM.The present study was undertaken to investigate the insulin sensitivity of the peripheral tissues of children with IDDM employing the insulin receptor level of monocytes as a parameter of insulin sensitivity.
Six children with untreated IDDM, 10 children with IDDM under treatment, and 10 healthy control children participated in the study.The insulin receptor of circulating monocytes was assayed by the method of Gavin et al.modified for use of a small amount of blood sample.The insulin receptor levels were 1.43pg/10⁶ cells in the children with untreated IDDM, 1.56pg/10⁶ cells in those with IDDM under treatment, and 1.91pg/10⁶ cells in the controls.The difference in value between the controls and untreated diabetic children was statistically significant (p<0.05) while that between the controls and treated diabetic children was not.These data indicate that a decrease of insulin action in human IDDM might be attributable, in part, to a defect of adaptive regulation of insulin receptor, namely release of down regulation, which is demonstrated in streptozotocin-induced or genetic IDDM animals.