Provings of Alloxan ^{[ * ]}

Summary

Alloxan in doses of the order of 300 to 400 mg. per kg. body-weight introduced subcutaneously or intra-muscularly in rats, unsually caused severe acute damage of the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. In some cases, though not invariably, there was also necrosis in renal tubules.

In five rats which survived a series of doses, glycosuria developed. Two of these animals exhibited almost all the signs and symptoms of severe diabetes mellitus. A third had symptoms of moderate severity and appeared to be recovering after two months. The glycosuria could be abolished by injections of insulin. Pathological alterations of varying severity, but extreme in two cases, were found in the pancreatic islets in these diabetic rats.

We have much pleasure in acknowledging our indebtedness to Dr. E. Duffy for blood-sugar estimations, to Mr. J. Kirkpatrick for photomicrographs, and to the works department of the University of Glasgow for making metabolism cages at short notice. The work was supproted by a grant from the Rankin Medical Research Found of the University of Glasgow, and continuation of it has received generous assistance from the Medical Research Council.

^* Paper delivered to the British Homœopathic Congress in London, September 15th, 1949.