INSULIN-SECRETION LEVELS NECESSARY FOR EFFICACY OF AN ALPHA-GLUCOSIDASE INHIBITOR ON GLUCOSE-METABOLISM IN PATIENTS WITH NON-INSULIN-DEPENDENT DIABETES-MELLITUS

Twenty patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus whose glu cose metabolism was unsatisfactory, even though they were receiving ap propriate dietary therapy, were treated with an or-glucosidase inhibit or (0.6 mg/day) for 12 weeks. The connecting peptide immunoreactivity value (selected as the evaluation criterion of post-prandial endogenou s insulin secretion) was compared in patients with and without improve d glycosylated haemoglobin levels. A significant difference was found between the connecting peptide immunoreactivity value of the group wit h improved glycosylated haemoglobin levels (5.0 +/- 1.0 ng/ml) and tha t in the group without the improvement (2.7 +/- 0.9 ng/ml).