1. Increased rates of
fatty acid oxidation are frequently observed in patients with
non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and may contribute to hyperglycaemia by both decreasing peripheral
glucose disposal and, more importantly, by increasing the rate of gluconeogenesis and therefore hepatic
glucose output. Despite this relationship between
lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, fasting
glucose concentrations do not fall acutely in patients with
non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus when plasma non-
esterified fatty acid concentrations and
lipid oxidation rates are decreased, questioning the importance of this interaction to glycaemic control. We have therefore measured the acute changes that occur 120-150 min after administration of 500 mg of the antilipolytic agent
acipimox in eight non-obese male patients with
non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. 2. After administration of
acipimox, lipolysis was inhibited as reflected by lower plasma non-
esterified fatty acid (0.05 +/- 0.02 versus 0.55 +/- 0.05 mmol/l, P less than 0.001) and blood
glycerol (8 +/- 1 versus 56 +/- 8 mumol/l, P less than 0.001) concentrations. The
lipid oxidation rate was decreased (0.63 +/- 0.05 versus 1.02 +/- 0.08 mg min-1 kg-1, P less than 0.001), whereas there was a significant increase in the
carbohydrate oxidation rate (1.93 +/- 0.17 versus 1.22 +/- 0.18 mg min-1 kg-1, P = 0.02).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)