INFLUENCE OF A PREVIOUS INJECTION OF EPINEPHRINE UPON THE DIABETOGENIC EFFECT OF ALLOXAN IN RABBITS

Abstract

22 rabbits were given intraven. injns. of alloxan (170-240 mg, per kg.). Intramusc. injns. of epinephrine in doses of 200 micrograms- per kg. 60-80 min. before admn. of alloxan markedly hindered or abolished the diabetogenic effect of alloxan in most cases. This was apparently the result, not of chemical inactivation of alloxan, but of some biol. mechanism; and a previous injn. of epinephrine may tend to increase the damage induced in organs or tissues other than the pancreas. Several of the rabbits that failed to become diabetic after the epinephrine-alloxan treatment showed alloxan hypoglycemia. Three of them, after blood sugar tolerance tests showed them to be free from any diabetic disturbance, subsequently became diabetic as a result of further alloxan injns. without previous epinephrine treatment. In 2 of several epinephrine-alloxan treated rabbits that died from hypoglycemia, the pancreas was histologically normal.