EFFECT OF LIGATION OF THE PAROTID DUCTS ON THE CARBOHYDRATE TOLERANCE OF NORMAL DOGS

Abstract

During the period, about forty years ago, when Minkowski 1 was establishing a probable relationship between the pancreas and diabetes, two Italian workers, de Renzi and Reale, 2 reported diabetes in dogs following the extirpation of the glands and of the duodenum. Minkowski felt that the removal of the duodenum could not be effected without at the same time materially damaging the pancreas. He repeated the experiments on the glands and found a mild (from 1 to 3 per cent), inconstant, transient glycosuria after removal of these glands. He concluded that this glycosuria was nonspecific, that it was incidental to the operation or the anesthetic, and that the glands had nothing to do with the control of the sugar metabolism. This is the view that, with very few exceptions, has prevailed regarding the function of the glands. In 1907, Ferrannini 3 reported a case of salivary