INTESTINAL GLUCOSE ABSORPTION IN EXPERIMENTAL BURNS AND ALLOXAN DIABETIC RATS

In vivo experiments performed on rats showmarked decrease in intestinal glucose absorptionfollowing burn injury. Glucose absorption ispartially increased by insulin administration (0.001U/100g body weight). There was a linear relation-ship between blood sugar levels and the rate ofglucose absorption. One week after scalding bloodserum insulin was decreased and blood glucoselevels were highly increased, showing that stressdiabetes menitus tends to appear. In order to avoid the complications involvedin in vivo cxperiments, some rats were rendereddiabetic by alloxan administration and their rateof glucose absorption was greatly decreased in vivo.However, in vitro measurement of intestinal glucoseabsorption revealed no marked difference betweennormal and diabetic rats. Insulin control is notprimarily due to the active transport system forglucose but is probably secondary to changes inblood sugar levels.