Production of diabetes mellitus in the duck by insulin antibodies

¹ Department of Clinical Science, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The intravenous injection of anti-insulin serum produces an immediate increase in the blood glucose concentration of both normal and presumably "depancreatized" ducks. Whereas the blood glucose of the normal ducks returns to the preinjection concentration within 3.5 hr, the hyperglycemia of the depancreatized ducks persists for more than 5 hr. The response is attributed to an acute insulin insufficiency induced by insulin antibodies. Accordingly, insulin is as essential to the regulation of the blood glucose of the duck as it is to that of mammals. The data from depancreatized ducks suggest the presence of a remnant of splenic lobe of the pancreas or some extrapancreatic source of insulin.

Key Words: insulin insufficiency • hyperglycemia • glucagon and blood glucose • avian pancreas

Submitted on June 24, 1963

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