Reduction of 0.1 Hz microcirculatory fluctuations as evidence of sympathetic dysfunction in insulin-dependent diabetes.

Objective: Loss of spontaneous fluctuations in resting microcirculatory flow has been described in diabetes mellitus, but its mechanism remains unexplained.

Methods: The autonomic control of forearm skin microcirculation was investigated in 23 insulin-dependent diabetic human subjects (median age 39 years, range 27-50) and in 23 age-matched controls (median age 38 years, range 20-57), by laser-Doppler flowmetry. Using spectral analysis of spontaneous microvascular fluctuations, we measured the power of 0.