Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) is defined by an increase in plasma glucose in response to an oral glucose challenge to levels intermediate between normal and diabetic [1] and is a risk factor for the subsequent development of diabetes [2]. The transition from normal glucose tolerance to IGT is characterized by a reduction in the ability of the pancreatic beta cell to sustain its compensatory response to insulin resistance [3]. When compared to subjects with normal glucose tolerance, those with IGT have a blunted insulin secretory response to the rise in glucose during a rapidly sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT) and a shift to the right in the dose-response curve relating the plasma glucose concentration to the insulin secretion rate [4,5]. IGT is additionally Diabetologia (2002) Abstract Aims/hypothesis. We hypothesized that beta-cell responses to changes in glucose would not be normal in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Methods. Three groups of 6 subjects were studied: normal weight with normal glucose tolerance (control subjects); obese with normal glucose tolerance (Obese-NGT); and obese with IGT (Obese-IGT). All subjects had a graded glucose infusion protocol to increase (step-up) and then decrease (step-down) plasma glucose. We obtained average insulin-secretion rates (ISR) over the glucose range common to all three groups during step-up and step-down phases, minimal model indices of beta-cell function (φ b , φ d , φ s , T up , T down ), and insulin sensitivity (Si). Results. ISR differed significantly between step-up and -down phases only in Obese-IGT individuals. Basal (φ b ) and stimulated (φ d , φ s ) beta-cell sensitivity to glucose were similar in the three groups. Delays between glucose stimulus and beta-cell response during both step-up (T up ) and -down (T down ) phases were higher in Obese-IGT compared to Controls and Obese-NGT individuals. The product ISR Si (10 ±5´m in ±2 l) was lower in Obese-IGT compared to Controls, both during step-up (919 851 vs 3192 1185, p < 0.05) and step-down (1455 1203 vs 3625 691, p < 0.05) phases. Consistently, the product φ s Si (10 ±14´m in ±2´p mol ±1 l) was lower in Obese-IGT than in control subjects (27.6 25.4 vs 103.1 20.2, p < 0.05). Conclusion/interpretation. Subjects with IGT are not able to secrete insulin to compensate adequately for insulin resistance. They also show delays in the timing of the beta-cell response to glucose when glucose levels are either rising or falling. [Diabetologia (2002) 45:509±517]