Abstract
The blood fat curve following ingestion of a test meal of fat was studied by us on adult dogs. The fat meal consisted of 2 cc. olive oil per pound body weight by stomach tube. Venous blood was removed before and at certain intervals after the meal, and the plasma analyzed for total fatty acids and cholesterol by Bloor's new method. The test meals were given after 7 to 14 days' fasting. Such dogs invariably responded with a marked increase in blood fat beginning about 2 hours after the test meal, reaching a peak in about 5 hours and returning to the previous level in 10 hours.
In a series of 8 dogs, 20 to 40 units insulin were given hypodermically at the same time the fat meal was given. The result was that the amount of the total fatty acids remained practically unchanged. This shows that the insulin prevented alimentary lipemia from occurring.
We then determined the effect of glucose administration on the blood-fat curve in connection with a fat meal. In 5 experiments, 1 gm. of glucose per pound body weight in 20% solutions was given by stomach tube along with the olive oil to dogs starved from 7 to 14 days. Again the blood fat remained practically unchanged in all cases, demonstrating that oral administration of glucose prevents the alimentary lipemia.
This suggests that the effect of insulin on alimentary lipemia is in some way connected with the effect of insulin on the carbohydrate metabolism. Whether both insulin and glucose prevent alimentary lipemia by increasing the glycogen content of the liver is yet to be proven.
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