Abstract
Soon after the discovery of insulin there were several reports in the literature of attempts to introduce insulin into the blood stream by methods other than those of intravenous and subcutaneous administration. Telfer 1 reported that insulin in an inunction when rubbed on the skin of rabbits produced a fall in blood sugar. Harrison 2 repeated this work and found that the inunction of insulin under these conditions had no effect even when introduced in very large amounts. More recently Hermann 3 and Hermann and Kassowitz 4 have reported a marked fall of blood sugar in both animals and patients following the application of an insulin salve on the skin. Details regarding the preparation and composition of this salve are not given.
During the past year in connection with other experiments on insulin absorption 5 , 6 we have made numerous attempts to lower the blood sugar by means of dermal applications. Finding that certain glycol compounds aided the absorption of insulin through the mucous membrane, we have employed these and similar compounds as vehicles for the insulin when applied to the skin.
In the course of our experiments we have used a variety of substances as vehicles, including glycerin, triethyanolamin, glycopon, deramin, polycol, propylene glycol, diethylene glycol, glycol laurate, pinacol, di-nitro-benzine, triethylene glycol, decamethylene glycol, and diethylene glycol monoethyl ether. All of these substances are well known chemical compounds except glycopon, polycol and deramin, which are proprietary preparations containing glycols. In addition to these substances salves made of lecithin with methyl salicylate, cantharides, guaicol and menthol were employed. Frankly negative or doubtful results were obtained with all of these combinations with the exception of a mixture of pinacol and insulin and diethylene glycol monoethyl ether and insulin. The results obtained with the latter substance were apparently more striking than those obtained with pinacol.
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