Summary. The influence of diabetes and insulin therapy on arterial glucose metabolism was studied in the Chinese hamster. Total glucose utilization and eonversion of glucose to lactic acid, CO s, lipid, glycogen, and protein were significantly reduced in intima-media segments of diabetic hamster aorta incubated in vitro. The degree of reduction was greater in the kctotic than the non-ketotie diabetics. The abnormalities in glucose metabolism did not appear to be related to a defect in glucose transport. Administration of insulin in vivo for up to 72 h in doses sufficient to normalize plasma glucose and insulin did not influence aortic glucose utilization. However, treatment with large doses of insulin, which produced marked hyperinsulinemia and mild hypoglycemia, corrected the observed reductions in glucose incorporation. Addition of insulin in vitro had no significant effect on aortic glucose metabolism.