The influence of iletin (insulin) on morphine hyperglycemia

Abstract

It has been shown by Macleod and his collaborators that insulin prevents the development of the hyperglycemia caused by etherization, asphyxia, carbon monoxide and piqUre, or counteracts it if already present. We have demonstrated that while these forms of experimental hyperglycemia are not essentially related to the adrenals, since they can be well elicited in the absence of those glands, this is not the case with the hyperglycemia produced by morphine in the development of which the adrenals seem to intervene in some way. We have therefore tested the influence of insulin upon morphine hyperglycemia in rabbits and cats. Whether morphine was given before, after, or at the same time as insulin, the characteristic effect of insulin upon the blood sugar was always observed. Thus, in a rabbit to which morhpine was administered 1 hour before insulin the blood sugar, which was 0.083 per cent. at the beginning of the experiment and 0.093 an hour after morphine, was 0.047 per cent. an hour after insulin had been ...