Elevated muscle tissue oxygen tension in short-term insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

In order to assess hemodynamic changes in early phases of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, muscle tissue oxygen tensions were determined in 7 newly diagnosed insulin-dependent diabetic patients and in 6 healthy control subjects matched for sex, age and weight. Muscle tissue oxygen tension was measured by polarrographic needle probes while breathing ambient air and oxygen enriched air with an oxygen concentration of 40 per cent as well. Three times during the experiment, heart rates, blood pressures, blood glucose concentrations, and capillary oxygen tensions were obtained. Heart rate, blood pressure, peripheral and autonomic nerve functions did not differ between the 2 groups studied. While breathing ambient air, muscle tissue oxygen tensions were significantly (p = 0.025) higher in the diabetic patients than in the control subjects. In contrast to the control subjects, diabetic patients did not increase muscle tissue oxygen tensions after inhalation of oxygen enriched air despite of an equal increase in capillary oxygen tensions (2p less than 0.05). Local tissue hypoxia does not seem to be a leading cause of hemodynamic abnormalities in the early phases of diabetes.