I131 Triolein Tolerance Curves in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

When Thannhauser and Stanley^1,2fed I¹³¹-labeled olive oil and followed the appearance and disappearance of the radioactivity in the blood of their patients, they introduced a new, simple, and very valuable technique for the study of neutral fat metabolism in health and disease. Numerous reports soon followed^3-6in which I¹³¹-labeled neutral fat was used as a diagnostic tool in various malabsorptive syndromes. The fruitfulness of this field of investigation probably led to a delay in the use of this technique in studying hyperlipemic states, although the original workers reported abnormal curves in nephrotics and idiopathic hyperlipemia as well.^1,2Recent studies by others as well as in our laboratory^7-9have demonstrated that individuals with proven myocardial infarction display elevated levels of blood radioactivity following ingestion of a radioactively labeled fat meal. Since it is well known that patients with diabetes mellitus have a tendency to develop atherosclerotic lesions at an