Nonenzymatic glucosylation of serum proteins and hemoglobin: response to changes in blood glucose levels in diabetic rats.

The relationship between concentrations of blood glucose and nonenzymatically glucosylated serum proteins was studied in rats with alloxan-induced diabetes of varying severity. Fasting serum glucose correlated strongly with both glucosylated albumin (r = 0.91, P less than 0.001) and glucosylated serum protein (r = 0.93, P less than 0.001). The relative rates of response of serum protein and hemoglobin glycosylation to changes in blood glucose were also compared. Following withdrawal of insulin from diabetic rats, the half-times to reach new steady state levels of blood glucose, glucosylated serum proteins, and glycohemoglobins were about 2, 3, and 8 days, respectively. Similarly, on reinstitution of insulin therapy, the half-times for these same indices to return to baseline values were 2, 3.5, and 15 days, respectively. Changes in glucosylated albumin were more sensitive than glycohemoglobins to changes in serum glucose, consistent with the observation that albumin was glucosylated at about 10 times the rate for hemoglobin in incubations in vitro. These data indicate that glucosylated serum protein measurements can serve as a sensitive, short-term integrator of blood glucose homeostasis in diabetes.