In order to study the cellular changes in people with tendencies to develop diabetes, Kitt Petersen and her colleagues studied the ability of muscle cells in normal children and insulin-resistant children to convert glucose into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the “energy molecule” muscle cells produce to power contraction. The body produces insulin to permit cells to process glucose, and muscle cells of insulin-resistant people do not respond normally to process glucose. They measured the amount of ATP produced per gram of muscle tissue after giving the study participants a dose of glucose. Persons in the control group produced 7.3 μmol/g of muscle/min of ATP (standard deviation 2.3 μmol/g of muscle/min) and insulin-resistant persons produced 5.0 μmol/g of muscle/ min (standard deviation 1.9 μmol/g of muscle/min). There were 15 children in each test group. Is there a difference in the mean rate of ATP production in these two groups of people?
