Acetoacetate and glucose uptake by diaphragm and skeletal muscle from from control and diabetic rats.

Many workers have demonstrated that extrahepatic tissues utilize ketone bodies in the absence of insulin (1). However, it has been postulated that a decrease in peripheral utilization of ketone bodies is a contributory factor in diabetic ketosis (2). No careful comparison of peripheral utilization by muscle from diabetic and nondiabetic preparations has been reported using modern techniques. The present paper reports an investigation of the uptake of acetoacetate and glucose by diaphragm muscle from a series of control and diabetic rats. The diaphragm is a specialized muscle in constant motion and seems, in respect to oxidative metabolism (3-5), to occupy an intermediate position between constantly active heart muscle and intermittently active skeletal muscle. Accordingly, the uptake of acetoacetate and glucose by skeletal muscle fibers, obtained by modifying Shorr’s technique (6), has also been studied. In these experiments both the diaphragm and fibers from diabetic rats took up less acetoacetate and glucose than the muscles from the controls.