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Insulin resistance occurs in a variety of conditions, including diabetes, obesity and essential hypertension¹, but its underlying molecular mechanisms are unclear. In type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus, it is insulin-resistance in skeletal muscle, the chief site of insulin-mediated glucose disposal in humans², that predominantly accounts for the low rates of glucose clearance from the blood, and hence for impaired glucose tolerance³. Human type 2 diabetes is characterized by a decrease in non-oxidative glucose storage (muscle glycogen synthesis)^4,5, and by the deposition of amyloid in the islets of Langerhans^6,7. Amylin is a 37-amino-acid peptide which is a major component of islet amyloid and has structural similarity to human calcitonin gene-related peptide-2 (CGRP-2; ref.8). CGRP is a neuropeptide which may be involved in motor activity in skeletal muscle^9,10. We now report that human …