Mary Charlotte Stephenson1, Emily Leverton1, Eric Y. Khoo2, Jane Halliday3, Simon M. Poucher3, Lars Johansson4,5, Jan W. Eriksson4,6, Roy Taylor7, Peter Mansell2, Ian A. Macdonald2, Peter Gordon Morris1
1SPMMRC, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK; 2School of Biomedical Sciences,, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, UK; 3AstraZeneca, Macclesfield, UK; 4AstraZeneca, Molndal, Sweden; 5Dept of Radiology, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden; 6Department of Medicine, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden; 7School of Clinical Medical Sciences, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, UK
Metabolic disturbances in diabetes are known to include impaired storage of glycogen and may include perturbed lipid metabolism. The purpose of the study was to observe changes in hepatic lipid and glycogen in response to two mixed meals, in four different groups, with varying degrees of metabolic dysfunction. Basal glycogen levels were found to be reduced in diabetic and healthy obese subjects when compared with normal weight healthy subjects. Attenuated postprandial increases also suggested lower ability to store glycogen. Increased hepatic lipid levels measured in the diabetic groups could not be explained solely by increased obesity indicating perturbed lipid metabolism.