In vivo Techniques for Clinical Studies of Glucose Metabolism

The use of radioactive tracers is inevitable for in vivo clinical studies outside Japan. In the field of research in diabetes melitus, glucose metabolism is a major concern and has been studied in humans using a tracer technique. The recent advances in this field and other useful in vivo tschnique. The recent advances in this field and other useful in vivo techniques for study of glcose metabolism are reviewed with comments n their problems. Residual hepatic glucose production represents the endogenous glucose production. Blood flow or water exchanfe in organs has been regarded as one of the important factors for the determination of glucose utilization. Total glucose disposal is expressed as approximated glucose infusion rate plus residual hepatic glucose production. Dual atacer (3-3H-glucose, U-14C-glucose) thechnique with indirect calorimetry is useful to address intracellular glucose metabolism. While a minimal model approach has been used especially for the epidemiological research, its theoretical background and problems are discussed. A novel approach to measure glucose transport in vivo makes it possible to estimate intracellular functional glucose concentration. Although the ethical problem of using small doses of radioactive tracer is very difficult to solve in Japan, comprehension of tracer method is important for the understanding of physiopogical aspects of glucose

Succinylcholine

Catecholamines

Abnormal Pseudocholinesterase