Insulin, glibenclamide or metformin treatment for non insulin dependent diabetes: heterogenous responses of standard measures of insulin action and insulin secretion before and after differing hypoglycaemic therapy.

Using carefully selected relatively non-obese non insulin dependent diabetic patients, we were not able to show differences in standard measures of insulin production or insulin action between patients treated with a long acting crystalline zinc insulin, with glibenclamide, or with metformin for a six week period. All three drugs were hypoglycaemic, but a fall in basal hepatic glucose output measured by the 3H3 glucose technique was only seen in those patients who had an initial fasting plasma glucose above 12.0 mmol/l, irrespective of treatment.