ALLOXAN DIABETES

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Abstract
Alloxan diabetes is the diabetes produced by the admn. of alloxan in various ways to many spp. of animals. It is the result of the immediate action of alloxan on the islet cells, especially the beta cells, which results in their necrosis with subsequent atrophy of the islands. The permanent diabetes is therefore a form of pancreatic diabetes, i.e., it is partial pancreatectomy of varying degree which has been chemically induced. The acinar tissue is uninjured. Alloxan as such disappears from blood in vitro and in vivo in 10 min. or less and has not been found in the blood in human diabetes. From its pathology and physiology alloxan diabetes is due to the destruction of islet tissue, but the mechanism by which it injures the cells is unexplained. Alloxan diabetes differs strikingly from the other types of exptl. diabetes in the course and nature of the lesions which are developed. It is a valuable aid in the study of diabetes and it may open the way to increased knowledge of the function of the cells of the islands of Langer-hans. As yet there is no evidence that alloxan is related to human diabetes mellitus.