THE NITROGEN-SPARING ACTION OF GLUCOSE IN NORMAL, PHLORHIZINIZED AND DEPANCREATIZED DOGS

Abstract

Utilizing the rate of accumulation of non-protein-N in the blood of nephrec-tomized animals as a measure of the rate of protein metabolism, it was demonstrated that the latter is greater in both phlorhizinized and depancreatized than it is in normal dogs. The intraven. inj. of large amts. of glucose to fasted, normal, phlorhizinized and completely depancreatized dogs during the early stages of inanition, resulted in a definite decrease in the rate of protein metabolism in all instances; glucose could exert a nitrogen-sparing action even in the absence of insulin. The metabolic disturbance in pancreatic diabetes was due apparently to an alteration in the balance between hepatic glycogenesis and glyco-genolysis. The associated increase in protein metabolism was attributed to a compensatory acceleration of oxidative deaminization in the liver in consequence of a decrease in the amt. of carbohydrate available for utilization by the liver per se.