High-Energy Bound Phosphate and Diabetes Mellitus

THE problem of whether oxidative phosphorylation is impaired in diabetes mellitus or not remains obscure. Cutolo and Siliprandi 1 and Sacks 2 demonstrated a decrease in high-energy bound phosphate content in alloxan-diabetic rat liver. Vester and Stadie 3 found diminished oxidative phosphorylation in depancreatized cat liver mitochondria but not in alloxan-diabetic rat liver mitochondria. Parks et al. 4 also failed to find an abnormality in alloxan-diabetic rat liver mitochondria. Goranson and Erulkar 5 found uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation in the heart muscle of alloxan-diabetic rats, but Peterson and his collaborators 6 reported that the high-energy bound phosphate content of skeletal muscle was in the normal range.