Alloxan Subdiabetes in Rabbits Detected by Modification of Glucose Tolerance by Adrenal Cortex Extract

Abstract

Summary and Conclusion

1. Small doses of adrenal cortex extract (A.C.) do not modify the glucose tolerance of fasted normal rabbits.

2. One or two small doses of alloxan (less than 40 mg/kg) do not produce more than transient changes in the blood sugar level or glucose tolerance of normal rabbits.

3. Six rabbits, so treated, showed a significant impairment of glucose tolerance when pretreated with A.C. (A.C. tolerance test); the hormone effect was transient.

4. By definition the treated rabbits had alloxan subdiabetes: they had impaired carbohydrate metabolism unaccompanied by fasting hyperglycemia, glycosuria, or impaired ordinary glucose tolerance.

5. Alloxan subdiabetes persisted in the rabbits for the duration of the experiment (up to 15 weeks).

6. A hormone sensitized glucose tolerance test, such as the A.C. tolerance test, should prove useful in studying problems in human subdiabetes and prediabetes.