Membranwirkungen des Insulins bei x-chromosomal recessiv erblicher progressiver Muskeldystrophie (Typ Duchenne)

Abstract

Young males with the Duchenne form of progressive muscle-dystrophy were infused with a glucose-insulin mixture. In all cases there was a partial normalization of the metabolic changes that are characteristic of this illness. There was a decrease in the serum activity of aspartate transaminase, creatine kinase and aldolase and a marked decrease in the creatine concentration of the serum. These changes were observed only during the infusion, whereafter the values rose again to their starting levels. The simultaneous decrease in the serum electrolytes K and phosphate, showed that the presence of glucose-insulin initiates active metabolic changes, which are not only concerned with the assimilation of glucose. In patients with progressive muscle dystrophy, in which there is a membrane-dependent increase in serum enzyme activity, the lesion can therefore be influenced by insulin-glucose. On the basis of this pathological condition, insulin acts not only in the assimilation of many materials, but also in rendering the cell impermeable from without. Administration of a. glucose-L-amino acid-insulin mixture results in an increase in intracellular protein synthesis in humans.