1980 Volume 27 Issue 6 Pages 775-778
This paper describes an inhibitory effect of propranolol on insulin secretion in rats with pancreatic islet cell tumors which have been induced by streptozotocin (65mg/kg body weight) and nicotinamide (500mg/kg).
Following glucose ingestion (3g/kg), propranolol (4mg/kg) was injected into the tumor-bearing rats. Plasma insulin decreased paradoxically despite an increase in blood glucoses. In contrast, propranolol did not suppress insulin secretion in normal rats. The drug was found to have no effect on glucagon secretion in either experimental or control animals during glucose load.
This may suggest that the experimentally induced insulinoma is hypersensitive to propranolol for inhibiting insulin secretion.
