Effect of Autoclaved Pancreas upon Lipids of Blood and Liver in Depancreatized Dogs Maintained with Insulin. ∗

Abstract

It was first shown in this laboratory that raw pancreas contains a factor (or factors) active on the blood lipids of the completely depancreatized dog maintained with insulin. 1 When the glandular tissue was added to the diet immediately after pancreatectomy, a rise above normal in blood lipid constituents occurred. The removal of the glandular tissue from the diet resulted in an abrupt fall in the lipid constituents, in particular, cholesterol esters. The essential effect of pancreas feeding upon blood lipids consisted in the maintenance of a level, particularly cholesterol, above the preoperative or normal; this effect was produced irrespective of whether the concentration of the blood lipids was normal or subnormal at the time when feeding of the glandular tissue was instituted.

It has already been shown that the blood lipid factor is not choline. 2 In a further study of the mechanism whereby raw pancreas produces these lipid changes, it seemed of interest to investigate the effects of pancreas that had been autoclaved for 30 minutes at 20 lb. pressure. Such a procedure destroys the enzymes but leaves unaltered the caloric value of the ingested pancreas.

A typical result of the effect of autoclaved pancreas on the blood cholesterol is shown in Table I. For the first 37 days following pancreatectomy Dog D-73 received 125 gm. of raw pancreas twice daily in addition to the regular stock diet. Determinations made on 2 occasions showed that the blood lipid concentration was definitely above normal during this period. For the next 19 days, autoclaved pancreas, in equal amounts, was substituted for the raw glandular tissue. A definite fall in both free and esterified cholesterol occurred. In 3 other dogs it was found that when autoclaved pancreas was added to the diet of dogs in which the blood lipid level fell below normal, a rise above the preoperative value did not occur. It may, therefore, be concluded that the factor in the pancreas responsible for the maintenance of a blood lipid level above normal is partially or completely destroyed by autoclaving.