158 



Scientific Proceedings (60). 



At first there was a marked increase in the glycosuria, but ulti- 

 mately the G : N ratio resumed the normal level and was little 

 affected by epinephrine. Nitrous oxide narcosis was then induced 

 as before. The extra sugar for 24 hours was now 1.8 g. as com- 

 pared with a minimum of 7 g. in two previous experiments. 



It is concluded that the "extra" sugar which is eliminated when 

 phlorhizinized dogs are narcotized with ether and nitrous oxide 

 has its origin in glycogen ; that the increase in glycosuria incidental 

 to narcosis is a phenomenon which can occur independently of any 

 fall in nitrogen or decrease of the acetone body output. The 

 lessened nitrogen and acetone excretions and the late fall in sugar 

 following ether or chloroform administration suggest renal injury 

 with general retention; or, possibly, they are due in part to sup- 

 pression of the total metabolism. In any case they depend upon 

 some action of the narcotic separate in kind or in degree from that 

 which is responsible for the appearance of extra sugar. It is 

 thought that asphyxia alone will produce results comparable to 

 those seen with nitrous oxide. 



The question arises as to whether acetaldehyde, pyruvic acid 

 and some of the other substances which have been reported to in- 

 crease the glycosuria in diabetic dogs prepared by the methods 

 used in these experiments, may not do so by causing a mobiliza- 

 tion of glycogen in a manner similar to that which follows the 

 administration of the better known narcotics (general asphyxia 

 or impairment of tissue respiration?). In the study of gluco- 

 neogenesis in diabetic dogs — especially when the substances 

 administered are chemically active or possessed of pharmaco- 

 dynamic properties, which is the case with short chain aldehydes, 

 ketones, keto acids, etc. — the appearance of extra sugar in the 

 urine affords no proof that the substance itself has been con- 

 verted into glucose or that any new sugar has been formed from 

 any other source (such as fat), unless suitable methods have 

 been employed to eliminate the glycogen. If during the fore 

 period preceding the experiment period a dose of epinephrine were 

 given without causing the appearance of extra sugar, this would 

 make it reasonably certain that a subsequent rise in sugar was not 

 referable to an hydrolysis of glycogen. This is suggested as a 

 convenient method of checking the effectiveness of the preliminary 



