INSULIN SENSITIVITY AND SORBITOL PRODUCTION OF THE NORMAL RABBIT CORNEAL EPITHELIUM INVITRO

  • 1 January 1980
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 19  (8) , 913-919
Abstract
Insulin-depleted, normal rabbit corneal epithelium was incubated in vitro in tissue culture medium containing high concentrations of glucose (35 mM). These short-term incubations showed that the epithelium took up glucose equally, whether or not insulin had been added to the medium, indicating that corneal epithelium is an insulin-insensitive tissue. Sorbitol accumulation showed that the normal corneal epithelium has a sorbitol pathway which can be activated in the presence of high intracellular glucose. The low level of sorbitol accumulation in these normal epithelia is probably not osmotically significant. [This study has relevance to diabetic retinopathy.].