Abstract #0412

Shulman G

Type 2 diabetes is the most common metabolic disease in the world and it is the leading cause of blindness, endstage renal disease and non-traumatic loss of limb in most industrialized countries. While the primary cause of this disease is unknown, insulin resistance plays a major role in its development. This presentation will focus on recent studies using 13C, 31P and 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy techniques in humans to examine the mechanism of fat induced hepatic and muscle insulin resistance and more recent 13C and 31P magnetic resonance studies that have implicated functional defects in mitochondrial activity in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance.