Alloxan Diabetes and Kidney Function

Abstract

It is a well-known fact that the intravenous injection of high diabetogenic doses of alloxan (80–100 mgm. per kgm.) in the dog produces a very severe diabetic-uræmic syndrome. With such doses the death of the animals follows as a rule within one week, the cause of the death being probably due to the disturbance of the renal function^1,2,3. In the course of our experiments on alloxan diabetes in the dog, we have been faced with this fact, which prevented us from keeping the animals with severe diabetes for further study. It was thought that clamping of the renal vessels previous to the alloxan injection, maintained a few minutes after the end of the injection, would avoid the kidney damage, since we have been able to demonstrate the rapid inactivation of the alloxan in contact with the blood and body tissues⁴. Our former experience shows, in fact that after ten minutes of contact with blood at 37° C. in vitro a diabetogenic dose of 100 mgm. alloxan per kgm. does not evoke its diabetogenic effect.