[Insulin and proinsulin content of the blood plasma of latent diabetics with normal body weight].

It was shown in the study of insulin and proinsulin content in the blood plasma of patients with the normal body weight, suffering from latent diabetes mellitus, that total plasma immunoreactivity (TIR) and immunoreactive insulin (IRI) secretion in the time-course of changes in glucose tolerance test (GTT) is more abundant than in healthy subjects during the second secretory phase. Immunoreactive proinsulin content does not differ in normal persons and in patients with latent diabetes mellitus within the whole GTT periods under examination. The data obtained show that an increase in TIR level is mainly caused by true hyperinsulinemia, rather than proinsulinemia, in patients with the normal body mass, suffering from latent diabetes mellitus.