Abstract
It was observed that there are changes in blood glucose levels induced by inhalation of lower concentration of carbon monoxide (CO) in rabbits.
The previous report was designed to ascertain the pattern of action of CO:, the method used was intravenous injection of saline dissolving CO (CO-saline) or red blood cell suspension saturated with CO.
In this report experimentation was performed to compare the action of CO with that of adrenaline on the changes in the blood glucose. Effect of phentolamine and propranolol was also studied in this experiment, and a part of the experiment was performed in reserpinized and spinal rabbits.
Results obtained were as follows:
1) The changes in blood glucose levels after CO-saline injection was not influenced by the administration of phentolamine or propranolol.
2) In the case of reserpinized rabbits, changes in the blood glucose by CO-saline were not observed, but the effect turned to be positive after repetitive injection of adrenaline.
3) In the spinal rabbits, injection of CO-saline failed to cause changes in blood glucose levels while injection of adrenaline increased.
The findings indicate that the changes in blood blucose may be elicited by the central action of free CO and this change induced by CO-saline was not directly related to α and β receptors.
It is suggested that there may exist another glycotic mechanism, different from hyperglycemia as a result of adrenaline being released from peripheral organs such as the adrenal medulla.
