ACTION OF NOCUOUS AGENTS ON INSULIN AND ADRENALIN SENSITIVITY, AND ON GLUCOSE TOLERANCE1

Abstract

Rats continuously treated with various damaging agents develop an initial period of hypogiycemia (alarm reaction) followed by a second period of hypergly-cemia after a certain degree of adaptation is acquired (stage of resistance). This confirms previous work along these lines indicating that during adaptation to damaging agents certain biochemical changes develop which appear to be entirely independent of the specific nature of the damage and are apparently corollaries of adaptation as such. During the alarm reaction, after 24 hrs. of treatment with damaging agents, a small and perhaps insignificant decrease in the hypoglycemic action of insulin was noted. This was accompanied by a marked increase in the hyperglycemic action of adrenalin and orally administered glucose. During the stage of resistance, after 9 days of treatment, the hypoglycemic action of insulin and the alimentary hyperglycemic response were considerably increased, while the adrenalin sensitivity showed rather irregular changes. Changes in the response to these agents cannot be regarded as specific pharmacological actions without considering the possibility that they may merely be the result of adaptation to the non-specific damaging effect of such agents.