Abrupt and Delayed Effects of Insulin on the Distribution Space of Glucose in the Dog

Abstract

IT has been proposed that insulin increases the permeability of cell membranes of animals to glucose¹. If this is so, an increase induced by insulin in the volume through which glucose can disperse could occur as a result of the addition of intra-cellular spaces to those through which glucose is distributed without the added insulin. The method of successive tracer injections² provides a means for determining, at each injection time, the amount of glucose which intermixes rapidly with the plasma glucose. From this value the corresponding apparent volume or space of distribution can be calculated, assuming that the concentration of plasma glucose is uniform throughout the volume. In this communication these procedures were used to determine the immediate and later effects of injection of insulin and of infusion of insulin on the glucose distribution space of the dog.