Abstract
Cushing 1 and coworkers have demonstrated that the injection of extracts of the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland results in a lowering of the tolerance for carbohydrates. The purpose of this investigation was to seek further information concerning the mechanism involved in this well known action of pituitrin.
We have made a comparison of the response to intravenous glucose administration in 6 dogs with and without the injection of pituitrin. Glucose was injected intravenously by means of a Woodyatt pump, for a period of 2 to 3 hours, at the rate of either 1.8 or 4 gms. per kilo body weight per hour. A continuous intravenous administration, of approximately .05 cc. of commercial pituitrin (Parke Davis and Co. or Eli Lilly and Co.) per kilo body weight per hour, was made by means of a device similar to that described by Burn and Dale 2 . The method employed for studying the response was the same as previously described. 3
Each animal receiving pituitrin showed a greater hyperglycemia (Table I) and a greater glycosuria than was observed in control experiments on the same animal. This effect was noted early in the course of the experiments, and was not more marked at the end of the period. The animals, receiving glucose at the rate of 4 grams per kilo per hour, excreted 18.1 per cent of this amount in the urine, as compared to 36.5 per cent for the same animals with glucose and pituitrin. When the injection rate was 1.8 gms. the per cent excreted was 10.7 and 25.6, respectively. The concentration of glucose in the urine was unaffected by pituitrin.
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