The Effect of Alloxan on the in Vitro Formation of Glucose by the Liver

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Abstract
Expts. indicate that alloxan has no direct effect on liver glycogenolysis. This result opposes the concept of Houssay et al. in regard to the origin of the initial hyperglycemia of alloxan diabetes. Respiring rat liver slices were suspended in 3 ml. of a glucose-free modified phosphate-buffered Ringer''s soln. to which, in certain flasks, alloxan was added in 0.0014 M conc. The amt. of glucose (as total reducing substances by the ferricyanide method of Folin) found in the medium after 1 hour''s shaking in O2 at 37[degree]C was measured. The glucose was about the same in the alloxan-treated tissues as in the controls. The glucose represented about 6% by wt. of carbohydrate in the liver slices and only glycogen could have been the source of most of it. In 4 animals made diabetic by a subcut. injn. of 200 mg. alloxan/kg. 48 hrs. previously, the amt. of glucose in the medium was less than 1/5 of the amt. in the normal liver. This lessened formation is due to a low liver glycogen.

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