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Peripheral Glucose Uptake in Relation to Physiological Levels of Plasma and Lymph Insulin
Author(s) -
Camu Fréderic,
Rasio Eugenio
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
european journal of clinical investigation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.164
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1365-2362
pISSN - 0014-2972
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2362.1972.tb00588.x
Subject(s) - insulin , medicine , endocrinology , lymph , glucose uptake , hindlimb , endogeny , interstitial fluid , hormone , in vivo , chemistry , biology , pathology , microbiology and biotechnology
Abstract. The effects of physiological increments of plasma immunoreactive insulin upon tissue glucose uptake, tissue insulin uptake and lymph insulin levels were studied in the hind‐limb (65% muscle, 27% skin and subcutaneous fat) of 38 anaesthetized dogs. During intravenous glucose tolerance tests, the tissue glucose uptake remained within baseline values, whereas the net rates of glucose utilization and the concentrations of arterial plasma insulin increased as the load of glucose injected was raised. Significant amounts of endogenous insulin were cleared from plasma but were not recovered in lymph. No glucose response was observed in the hind‐limb tissues during intra‐arterial infusions of exogenous insulin in conditions of strict normoglycaemia and constant blood flow. The infusions of insulin were designed to simulate the levels of endogenous hormone achieved in plasma during the glucose tolerance tests. Again, a high percentage of the injected insulin was fixed to the hind‐limb tissues with no detectable rise of leg‐lymph levels. At higher plasma insulin concentrations, both tissue glucose uptake and lymph insulin levels were increased. The results show that the effect of plasma insulin on glucose uptake by muscle and fat in vivo is a threshold phenomenon. From the present knowledge of the physiology of lymph formation, the threshold phenomenon could largely be accounted for by insulin adsorption to the blood capillary walls.