The Chylomicron Count in Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Gage1 has called attention to the fact that following a fatty meal the blood is loaded with minute fat droplets which persist for a time and then disappear. Ludlum, Taft and Nugent2 have made some studies on these particles and think that they are neutral fat droplets, stabilized by blood proteins. They think, therefore, that the counting of these particles gives a fair index of the fat content of blood. Bloor3 has shown that these chylomicrons are increased in a diabetic dog. Several other clinical conditions have also been reported. It was thought that it would be interesting to examine blood of fasting diabetic patients and make counts, comparing these with normal fasting blood.The chylomicrons were counted by Gage, and Ludlum, Taft and Nugent by noting the number of particles in a given area viewed through the micrometer eyepiece ruling while the slide was illuminated with a dark field condenser. In attempting to carry out this count, using a Zeiss cardioid condensor with an arc light, difficulties we...