The Effect of Insulin on Blood Levels of Infused Pentoses in Man

Abstract

showed an influence of insulin on galactose tolerance of dogs. More recently, Levine, Goldstein, Huddlestun, Klein, and Henry (2, 3) demonstrated that insulin lowers the blood levels of D-galactose, D-xylose, and L-arabinose but not of D-arabinose or D-mannose, following their infusion into the eviscerated nephrectomized dog. The volume of distribution of the responsive sugars was increased from 45 to 70 per cent of body weight as a result of insulin administration. It was suggested that the insulin response represented a facilitation of transport of the sugar across the cell membrane into intra- cellular fluid. In all the responsive sugars the stereochemical structure of carbon atoms 1 to 3 was like that of D-glucose, and these authors sug- gested that these structural characteristics determined the insulin responsiveness of a sugar.