THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SERUM β-GLUCURONIDASE ACTIVITY AND BLOOD SUGAR LEVEL

Abstract

Serum β-glucuronidase activity has been found to be increased in various diseases of human subjects as well as in experimental animals. Recently, it was reported by Goldbarg et al. (1), Dohrmann (2, 3) and Hagenfeldt and Wahlberg (4) that serum β-glucuronidase activity in diabetic patients was higher than that of normal subjects, though any definite relationship between the enzyme activity and blood sugar level or urinary excretion of glucose was not observed. We also obtained similar results (5) in the experiments which were designed to investigate the relationship between serum β-glucuronidase activity and the conditions in experimental diabetic rabbits. In the course of our study, it was found that the administration of glucose to the rabbit caused an increase in serum β-glucuronidase activity, while the injection of insulin produced a decrease in the enzyme activity, and furthermore, these changes in the enzyme activity appeared to be parallel to blood sugar level. The increasing interest in any possible significance of the β-glucuronidase activity changes has developed, although these phenomena has not been elucidated yet. The experiments described in this paper deal with the effects of hypo- or hyperglycemia caused by the administration of glucose or some hormones on serum β-glucuronidase activity in rabbit.