Action of Insulin on Deposition of Glycogen and Storage of Fat in Adipose Tissue

Soon after the discovery of insulin, clinical observers reported the occurrence of atrophies (Depisch, 1926; Barborka, 1926) and hypertrophies (Eeg-Olofsson, 1930; Rowe and Garrison, 1932) of subcutaneous adipose tissue at the site of repeated insulin injections. A number of case reports and statistical studies have since been published. It has been shown that in insulin atrophies the abnormal process consists of simple disappearance of fat without evidence of inflammatory reaction (Marble and Smith, 1942). Moreover, lipodystrophy without evidence of inflammation has not been reported following injection of substances other than insulin. The production of insulin lipodystrophies in animals has been attempted by Reed, Anderson, and Mendel (1930), Marble and Smith (1942), Goldner (1943) and Oesterreicher (1947) with conflicting results. In the search for an explanation of the effect of insulin on the adipose tissue of diabetics, various factors not concerned with the actual metabolic action of insulin have been suggested but supporting experimental evidence has been lacking (Marble and Smith, 1942).