Accumulation of plasma 3-deoxyglucosone impaired glucose regulation in Chinese seniors: Implication for senile diabetes?

AimsTo investigate the impact of increasing accumulation of 3-deoxyglucosone (3-DG) on glucose regulation in non-diabeteic seniors.MethodsThis research is a 2-year prospective follow-up study. We conducted a HPLC assay to determine the plasma 3-DG concentrations of 132 non-diabetic retirees of Suzhou. An oral glucose tolerance test was carried out 2 years after baseline in 16 subjects with continual high plasma 3-DG and 16 control subjects randomly sampled in those with normal plasma 3-DG.ResultsThe median plasma 3-DG level of 132 subjects was 43.52 ng/ml (7.89–736.09 ng/ml), of which 47 subjects (36.6%) were beyond 70 ng/ml. A correlation between age and 3-DG was found among people between 50 and 66 years old (r = 0.408, P < 0.001). The 60–69 years group had a higher 3-DG level than 50–59 years group (P < 0.001). Compared with control group, the continual high plasma 3-DG subjects had a higher level of FINs (P < 0.05), FBG (P < 0.01), HOMA-IR (P < 0.001), and a lower level of ISI (P < 0.001) and ΔI60/ΔG60 (P < 0.05), as well as a higher incidence of impaired glucose regulation (χ2 = 7.814, P < 0.05).ConclusionsThere was abnormal elevation of plasma 3-DG in non-diabetic seniors, and the increasing accumulation of plasma 3-DG, which mainly resulted from aging, eventually lead to the impaired glucose regulation, indicating an association of 3-DG with senile diabetes.