Glucose concentration in human subcutaneous adipose tissue: comparison between forearm and abdomen

There is still controversy about the relation between the glucose concentration in the subcutaneous (sc.) adipose tissue and the blood plasma. Depending on the technique applied, the glucose concentration in sc. tissue varies between 50% and 100% of the plasma glucose concentration. In the present study the sc. glucose concentration of forearm and abdomen in seven healthy volunteers was compared with plasma glucose by applying the microdialysis technique with very low flow rates. A microdialysis probe implanted into the subcutaneous tissue of abdomen and forearm was perfused with a flow rate of 1 microl/4 min. The dialysate was sampled in three 2-h-fractions in the fasting state and in one 2-h-fraction during a hyperglycemic clamp (216.9+/-3.4 mg/dl) (mean +/- SEM). The mean recoveries of the plasma glucose were 91.1+/-4.1% in the forearm and 82.7+/-18.0% in the abdomen. The recoveries in the sc. tissue of abdomen and arm were not significantly different. However, the arm showed significantly (p < 0.014) less interindividual variance (range 73.2- 103.2%) than the abdomen (range 50.6-117.1%) and appears to be the preferable implantation site. The recovery remained constant during the investigation.