The concentration of 1-deoxyglucose(1,5-anhydroglucitol) in plasma from patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus was measured by gas-liquid chromatography with an all-glass capillary column. Twenty-one plasma samples were obtained from 21 patients before insulin therapy, and 34 more from 13 patients receiving insulin therapy. 1-Deoxyglucose was generally not detectable in plasmas of diabetic patients before they received insulin; it was measurable in the patients who had received insulin, although its concentration was low compared with that of healthy subjects. We therefore suggest that the absence of 1-deoxyglucose in plasma is one of the markers of metabolic states of diabetes, perhaps reflecting a disturbed function of carbohydrate metabolism; its presence in plasma within a normal range may reflect the better control of diabetic patients.

1-Deoxyglucose (1,5-anhydroglucitol), a metabolite related to diabetes mellitus, was identified in human plasma by gas-liquid chromatography and by gas-liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Plasma polyols were accurately determined with a gas-liquid chromatograph equipped with an all-glass capillary column. The plasma content of 1-deoxyglucose in healthy persons varies with age. Although the precise physiological role of 1-deoxyglucose remains obscure, the method described here for determining the minor polyol components of plasma, as well as the findings of 1-deoxyglucose in the plasma of healthy subjects, may be useful for investigating the metabolic roles of 1-deoxyglucose.

To obtain information about the effects of lenticular polyols on the prevention, initial stages, and development of diabetic cataracts, we identified and determined with gas-liquid chromatography or gas-liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry eight polyols in cataractous lenses of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus patients and nondiabetic subjects. In the diabetics' lenses, the concentrations of polyols (e.g., sorbitol, fructose, mannitol, and adonitol) were higher than in the nondiabetics' lenses, whereas the concentration of 1-deoxyglucose was lower. The mean concentration of myo-inositol in lenses of diabetics was lower than that of nondiabetics, but this difference was statistically not significant. The total content of eight polyols in the diabetics' lenses did not differ significantly from that in the nondiabetics. In the lenses of diabetics, the content of glucose correlated positively with that of adonitol, fructose, and sorbitol. In the lenses of nondiabetics, the content of glucose correlated positively with that of mannitol and inversely with that of 1-deoxyglucose and myo-inositol. In diabetics, hemoglobin A1 (%) correlated positively with the concentration of adonitol in the lenses and inversely with the concentration of lens myo-inositol; however, it did not correlate with the concentration of glucose in lenses. Regulation of both the metabolism of lenticular polyols and the pattern of polyols in serum may be necessary for normalizing lenticular polyol content.

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