THE EFFECT OF ZINC SALTS ON THE ACTION OF INSULIN

¹ Connaught Laboratories, University of Toronto

It has been shown that solutions of insulin to which approximately 0.01 per cent of zinc had been added retained only about 40 per cent of their activity when assayed by the mouse method. In other experiments, rabbits were injected with solutions of insulin containing 0.1 per cent of zinc. Determinations of the blood sugar showed that the physiological action of the insulin was much delayed and the level of the blood sugar remained considerably below normal ten hours after commencing the test. The quantity of sugar metabolized due to the zinc-insulin solutions was at least equivalent to that observed, with standard solutions of insulin. By precipitating the insulin from a zinc-insulin solution with trichloracetic acid, the hormone was recovered with its original properties. Mouse assays showed that cobaltous chloride and potassium alum had little effect on the activity of insulin. Nickel-insulin solutions, however, produced approximately the same number of convulsions in mice as did zinc-insulin solutions.

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