A Sloping Screen Method for the Bioassay of Insulin in Mice

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Abstract
A quantal response method for the bioassay of insulin is described employing a sloping screen for the detection of hypoglycaemic symptoms in insulin-treated mice. This procedure tends to eliminate the personal bias which may occur in assays using convulsive seizures or a state of collapse as the criterion of the response to insulin. In a comparison of this method with that described for insulin in the British Pharmacopoeia1, it was found that although the slopes of the log dose-response lines did not differ significantly, the procedure using the sloping screen for detecting the response required a larger dose of insulin. Mice primed with 5 mU. of insulin before their routine use in assays were more uniform in their response than unprimed mice. The presence of a retarding agent such as gelatin or protamine added to insulin did not influence the slope of the log dose-response line, but may under special conditions delay the absorption of insulin from the injection site. Evidence has been obtained which suggests that the amount of daylight to which the mice are exposed may have a significant effect on the precision of the assay.

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