Peripheral glucose metabolism in patients with chronic renal failure

The present study was designed to determine the effect of chronic renal failure on forearm muscle glucose uptake and oxidation during the postabsorptive state and after an oral glucose challenge. Twelve normal subjects and sixteen patients with chronic renal failure were studied after an overnight fast (12-14 h) and for 3 h after the ingestion of 75 g of glucose. Peripheral glucose metabolism was analyzed by the forearm technique to estimate muscle exchange of substrate combined with indirect calorimetry. Decreased forearm glucose uptake was observed in uremic patients compared to normal subjects (91.5 +/- 11.4 vs 154.8 +/- 7.8 mg 100 ml forearm-1 3 h-1) with diminished nonoxidative glucose metabolism (69.4 +/- 12.1 vs 117.2 +/- 12.8 mg 100 ml forearm-1 3 h-1). Muscle glucose oxidation did not differ significantly between groups. Both serum free fatty acid levels and lipid oxidation rates were similar in the normal subjects and the uremic patients, and declined in a similar fashion after glucose ingestion. Basal serum insulin levels did not differ significantly between normal and uremic patients, whereas the insulinemic response to glucose load was greater among the patients with chronic renal failure. These data show that insulin resistance occurring in patients with chronic renal failure is accompanied by impaired muscle glucose uptake and nonoxidative glucose metabolism.