Insulin binding to monocytes and total mononuclear leukocytes from normal and diabetic patients

Isolated circulating mononuclear leukocyte preparations were obtained from 19 normal and 11 adult diabetic patients. No differences in monocyte, T cell, or B cell content were found when preparations from the two study groups were compared. The amount of insulin bound to cells from the diabetic patients was found to be decreased regardless of the cell type to which the data were normalized. This indicates that the previously reported decrease in the ability of mononuclear cells of diabetic patients to bind insulin was not a result of differences in mononuclear cell subpopulation.