THE EFFECT OF EPINEPHRINE AND INSULIN ON THE PLASMA POTASSIUM LEVEL

Abstract

INSULIN, epinephrine and desoxycorticosterone acetate have each been reported as affecting the level of blood potassium. In spite of the generally conceded fact that desoxycorticosterone is not a natural hormone of the adrenal cortex much emphasis has been placed on the role of this steroid in attempts to explain potassium homeostasis in the organism (Sayers, 1950). This status of desoxycorticosterone is the result of evidence in the literature that the level of blood potassium is increased after adrenalectomy and that plasma potassium is significantly lowered following administration of desoxycorticosterone probably by inhibiting potassium reabsorption in the kidney tubules (Harrison and Darrow, 1939; Swingle and Remington, 1944; Rommelt, Sartorius and Pitts, 1949). Evidence that epinephrine and insulin induced a rapid and significant fall in plasma potassium level in man and animals has been reported by several investigators (Houssay et al., 1937; D'Silva, 1937; Flocks et al., 1939; Keys, 1938a, 1938b; Castleden, 1938; Moglia, 1939; Gerschman, 1939; Brewer et al., 1939).