The rate of dialysis of diabetic blood-sugar

Abstract

Fifteen or twenty c.c. of blood, rendered incoagulable by dry hirudin, were dialyzed in a very thin animal parchment bag against 1,000 c.c. of Ringer's solution. To the Ringer's solution was sometimes added a small percentage of dextrose in order to retard the rate of dialysis. Bacterial growth was inhibited by the addition of powdered thymol or by working at a low temperature. Samples of blood for sugar analysis were taken at hourly intervals and the rate at which the sugar passed from the blood into the Ringer's solution was thus determined.

The results show a striking difference between the diabetic blood (from depancreatized dogs) and its control, normal dog blood with enough added dextrose to give about the same percentage of sugar as the diabetic. In the control a smooth curve is obtained, i. e., the most rapid dialysis during the first hour, somewhat less the second, and so on. The diabetic, however, exhibits a marked slowing, or even a complete cessation, of dialysis usually during the second hour, but at times this occurs at some other period and there may even be two such periods in the course of a four-hour dialysis.

This may indicate that at least part of the diabetic blood-sugar is in a difficultly diffusible state, perhaps in some loose combination.