The increase in sympathetic nerve activity after glucose ingestion is reduced in type I diabetes

Food intake is followed by an increase in baroreflex-governed sympathetic outflow to muscle vessels. It is established that insulin contributes to this stimulation; however, the increase occurs (to a lesser degree) even in the absence of enhanced insulin secretion. To further elucidate the role of insulin, muscle nerve sympathetic activity was recorded by microneurography, and the increase after an oral 100-g glucose load in eight C-peptide-negative patients with type I diabetes without any signs of neuropathy was compared with that in 16 healthy control subjects. The level of sympathetic activity at rest was similar in the two groups (type I diabetes patients, 19.5±2.4 bursts/min; controls, 20.4±4.8 bursts/min; means±S.D.). Following glucose intake there was a significant increase in activity in both groups, with maximum values at 30 min of 24.3±3.7 bursts/min for type I diabetes patients and 34.4±9.1 bursts/min for controls. The summarized response (during 90 min) of the diabetic patients was less than half that of the control subjects (P = 0.0003). It is concluded that the response of muscle nerve sympathetic activity to glucose ingestion is reduced to about half of its normal strength in the absence of insulin, and that there is no difference in sympathetic outflow at rest between healthy subjects and diabetic patients without polyneuropathy.