Effect of Insulin Hypoglycemia and Glucose on Various Amino Acids in Blood of Mental Patients

Abstract

The effect of glucose admn. and of insulin hypoglycemic shock treatment on the level of the following amino acids in the blood of 15 mental patients was detd.: total amino acids, arginine, histidine, leucine, lysine, phenylalanine, tryptophane, valine. Insulin hypoglycemia and the oral admn. of glucose depressed the level of these amino acids. The former produced a more marked effect than the latter upon the level of the amino acids. However, the effect of insulin or glucose on the level of valine and arginine was about equal in some of the patients. There were marked differences in the effects on the level of various amino acids both in the same patient and on the same amino acid in different patients. The effect of insulin hypoglycemia on leucine and lysine was most marked. This points to the possibility that these amino acids may take part in some special metabolic processes affected by insulin. The findings also indicate that insulin may have some special effect upon the metabolism of amino acid which is not due merely to the utilization of glucose. It was also found that the total amino acids does not reflect the extent of the changes in the blood of the level of the individual amino acids. The possible role of various metabolic processes which might account for the observed phenomena is discussed. The inadequacy of previous studies on the level of the total amino acids in the blood is clearly demonstrated.