Glucose oxidation in the alloxan-diabetic rat

¹ Division of Applied Biology, National Research Council, Ottawa, Canada

Rates of turnover, excretion, and oxidation of glucose have been measured in alloxan-diabetic rats and compared to values obtained in normal rats under similar conditions. Alloxan-diabetic rats showed almost normal rates of glucose uptake (turnover rate-excretion rate) but at levels of plasma glucose approximately 3.4 times normal. Under these conditions the ratio of oxidation rate to uptake rate of glucose in alloxan-diabetic rats was very close to that measured in normal animals, thus indicating that lowered availability of insulin does not modify the pattern of intracellular regulation of glucose oxidation which in the normal animal is a function of the rate of glucose uptake by the tissues.

Key Words: alloxan-diabetes • glucose turnover • glucose excretion

Submitted on August 20, 1963