The action of iletin (insulin) on the blood-sugar of pigeons

Honeywell, Hannah Elizabeth, Riddle, Oscar (1923) The action of iletin (insulin) on the blood-sugar of pigeons. Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, 20 (5). pp. 248-252.

Abstract

The recent preparation of relatively pure and standardized extracts of the sugar reducing principle of the pancreas has been accompanied by measurements of the time and extent of the hypoglycemia resulting from its administration to the rabbit and to man.1, 2 These earlier studies already permit the employment of such extracts with confidence in their power temporarily to reduce the blood sugar level in the higher animals. We present here the result of 120 sugar determinations made after subcutaneous injection of the extract into 35 pigeons of two species and of a third (ataxic) variety. It was usually considered unnecessary to make determinations of the sugar before injection since the birds were handled in groups and the group averages are known from extensive earlier work. These normal averages are: 185 mgms. per 100 c.c. blood (or .185 per cent.) for common pigeons3; 161 for ataxics; 150 for ring doves (unpublished data). In a paper4 accompanying this communication a pancreatic extract of the standardized type (iletin; or insulin, Lilly) was used continuously over a prolonged period in a test of its capacity to suppress ovulations in the pigeon. Large doses were also used to test the resistance of the bird to the extract. At the close of that study the same group of birds and the same pancreatic extracts were used for the purposes of the present study. One-half of the blood samples were obtained by needle-puncture of the heart and the other half by light bleeding from the upper beak. MacLean's micro-method of sugar determination was used. Very few duplicate determinations were made. Further data concerning the extracts and dosages are given in the accompanying paper.

Item Type: Paper
Subjects: organism description > animal > bird
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > protein structure, function, modification > protein types > insulin receptor
CSHL Authors:
Communities: Station for Experimental Evolution at Cold Spring Harbor
Depositing User: Elizabeth Pessala
Date: 1923
Date Deposited: 02 Aug 2016 21:24
Last Modified: 20 Dec 2016 22:20
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/33128

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