The Glucose Uptake of Human Adipose Tissue in Obesity

Abstract. Radioactivity in adipose tissue triglycerides was followed after giving an intravenous injection of 25 g of glucose with 50 μCi of U‐ 14 C‐glucose to 12 obese and 7 control patients. Seventy‐five minutes after injection the radioactivity could be measured with sufficient precision. Recirculation of label was probably small during this period. Total adipose tissue glucose uptake could therefore be estimated knowing the variation of adipose tissue triglyceride radioactivity in different selected regions, and total body fat, and was found to be only a few per cent of all assimilated glucose in the body. Triglyceride radio‐activity per gram of adipose tissue was similar in obese subjects and controls. Consequently total adipose tissue label was higher in the obese. Triglyceride radioactivity per fat cell correlated positively with fat cell size which in turn correlated positively with plasma insulin concentration. During the two first weeks after injection adipose tissue triglyceride radioactivity increased after which it began to fall in some patients.