INSULIN AND TISSUE SUGAR

¹ From the State Institute for the Study of Malignant Disease, Buffalo, New York

1. The free sugar content of the liver of starving animals is markedly lowered during insulin action. With an average fall in bloodsugar of 54 per cent the average free liver sugar was reduced by 40 per cent (table 5).

2. The free sugar concentration of the muscles of starving animals is not influenced by insulin.

3. The free sugar content of the kidney of starving animals is diminished during insulin action. The reduction amounted to 28 per cent in the experiments with mice and to 47 per cent in the experiments with rabbits.

4. The free sugar of the brain of starving rabbits and mice is not influenced by insulin. This makes it improbable that the hypoglycemic symptoms after an insulin injection are due to a lowering of the glucose tension in the brain centers.