Abstract
Briggs, Koechig, Doisy and Weber 1 have observed a decrease in sugar, inorganic phosphorus, and potassium of the blood of normal dogs after insulin. There was a parallel increase in the lactic acid apparently formed from the glucose under the influence of insulin. The animals were not anesthetized, but the authors believe that the increased muscular activity played no part in the observed production of lactic acid. Best and Ridout 2 state that the blood lactic acid of dogs does not significantly increase during insulin hypoglycemia, when this condition is uncomplicated by extreme asthenia or by marked hyperirritability. Moreover Cori 3 has found that insulin hypoglycemia produced no definite change in the lactic acid content of the blood of either fasting rabbits or cats. Nor did the insulin have any effect on the blood lactic acid of phlorizinized rabbits or depancreatized cats, but the insulin convulsions lead to a strong increase in the lactic acid concentration of the blood. Blatherwick, Bell and Hill 4 observed in normal individuals a marked decrease of the inorganic phosphorus of blood plasma accompanied by a lessened excretion of phosphorus in the urine after the administration of insulin to normal individuals. These changes occur during the period of hypoglycemia. A comparison of in vitro-glycolysis with the hypoglycemia after insulin has been made by Morgulis and Barkus. 5 These authors state that in vitro-glycolysis is different from the hypoglycemia caused by insulin in that the disappearance of the glucose in the former is parallel with the formation of lactic acid, but the insulin hypoglycemia is not necessarily associated with a production of lactic acid.
This brief survey of the literature reveals an apparent contradiction in reported data on changes in the blood lactic acid associated with insulin hypoglycemia.
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