Decreased Insulin Binding to Monocytes from Normal Pregnant Women

To ascertain whether the decrease of glucose tolerance in pregnancy might be mediated by changes in insulin receptors, we have studied insulin binding to monocytes in 12 normal women during late pregnancy and 14 healthy, young, normal weight, nonpregnant female controls. The pregnant women had significantly higher fasting insulin concentrations in plasma than the controls (18 ± 3.5 vs. 8 ± 1.1 μU⁄ml; P 0.1). Our results suggest that the deterioration of gl...