The relationship of plasma acetate with glucose and other blood intermediary metabolites in non-diabetic and diabetic subjects

Abstract

In investigating the interrelations of plasma acetate with glucose metabolism, we established that fasting plasma acetate levels (mmol/1) were greater in the diabetic than non-diabetic individuals (p < 0.001). Plasma acetate and glucose levels correlated in all subjects (non-diabetic and diabetic) as a whole (r_s 0.28, p < 0.0001) and in the diabetics alone (r_s 0.35, p < 0.001). After i.v. glucose (20 g/m² body surface area), plasma acetate levels increased further in the diabetic and non-diabetic individuals. Plasma acetate also increased when non-diabetic individuals consumed 75 g oral glucose. Moreover, while plasma acetate levels had returned to fasting values by 90 min in the non-diabetic subjects after oral and i.v. glucose, levels remained elevated in the diabetics after i.v. glucose. The K rate constant of glucose elimination after i.v. glucose in the diabetics correlated negatively with acetate values at many time points. In the non-diabetics, changing acetate and glucose levels after oral glucose also correlated at multiple time points. These results suggest that the plasma acetate level is influenced by variations in glycaemia and provide further evidence for an impaired rate of acetate metabolism in diabetes.