Abstract
Antidiabetic action of the mesoxalic acid was previously reported by Kobayashi et al. (1, 2) and mesoxalates were suggested to act on the mechanism of insulin release from the beta-cell in the pancreatic “Langerhans' islet” [Kobayashi and Ohashi (2)]. The effect of this drug was reported by Ohashi et al. (3) to be so weak that the elevation of insulin-like activity determined by rat-diaphragm method was evidenced only after the continuous infusion of a large dose into the pancreatico-duodenal artery in dogs. At the same time, however, it was suggested that the action of mesoxalates on the beta-cell would be pharmacologically pure and specific. Consequently, more active compounds related to mesoxalic acid, if discovered, are expected to be pharmacologically usefull for study on clinical control of diabetes mellitus as well as for investigation on mechanism of insulin secretion from the beta-cell. The present report describes the observations on the relationship between the mesoxalinic activities and the chemical structures of compounds.
