Serum Insulin-like Activity of Normal, Fasting, and Ketotic Cattle

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Abstract
The serum insulin-like activity (ILA) of 14 normal, 4 fasted, and 14 ketotic cows was determined by bioassay, using the uptake of glucose by the rat diaphragm in response to minute quantities of insulin as the assay system. The mean serum ILA of the normal cows was 1.94 [plus or minus] .24 m[mu] of insulin/ml and for the ketotic cows 1.25 [plus or minus] .23 m[mu]/ml. This difference is significant at the 0.05 level. Cows fasted for a 72-hr period exhibited an average decrease in serum ILA of 31%. This decrease in serum ILA on fasting indicates that the blood level of insulin is probably a reflection of the altered levels of blood metabolites associated with the fasting and ketotic conditions.