Adipose Tissue Cellularity in Maturity Onset Diabetes Mellitus

Adipose tissue fat content and cellularity have been analysed in relation to glucose metabolism, plasma insulin and serum lipids in 24 patients with recently diagnosed maturity onset diabetes mellitus. Randomly selected middle‐aged men and women served as controls. The diabetic patients were characterized by an impaired glucose tolerance with insufficient although to some extent remaining insulin secretion. Plasma cholesterol was not different from controls, while plasma triglyceride was elevated. Adipose tissue variables were different only in the men, who had somewhat more body fat than the control men. Most of the diabetic patients had lost weight recently before their diabetes was diagnosed. With the assumption that reduction of body fat made a considerable contribution to this weight loss it could be presumed that maturity onset diabetes, when it manifests itself clinically, is characterized by enlarged fat cells. It was suggested that the main difference between maturity onset diabetes mellitus and endogenous hypcrtriglyceridemia is a higher remaining insulin secretion in the latter.