GLUCOSE KINETICS AND RESPONSIVENESS TO INSULIN IN RAT INJURED BY BURN

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 147  (4) , 565-573
Abstract
There are persistent alterations in glucose metabolism in the rat during the 1st wk after a 20% body surface area burn injury. The basal rate of endogenous glucose production is elevated and it is not suppressed to a normal degree by an exogenous glucose infusion. The hormone data suggest that increased glucagon levels are responsible for the elevated rate of gluconeogenesis both before and during an exogenous glucose infusion. Basal glucose uptake was also elevated after injury and there was a normal increment in the glucose metabolic clearance rate during an exogenous glucose infusion. The increase in the glucose metabolic clearance rate relative to the increase in the insulin concentration was equivalent in the burn and control groups of rats. This indicated a normal responsiveness to insulin after injury. Because there was no impairment in the capacity to take up an exogenous glucose infusion, the insulin resistance rationale for administering insulin to patients rendered hyperglycemic by glucose infusion was questioned.