Glucose, insulin and glucagon in the diabetic goose.

The relationships between plasma glucose, insulin and glucagon were studied in geese made diabetic by subtotal pancreatectomy. As early as the first hours after the operation, the plasma glucose increases and a permanent diabetes develops. This diabetic state is characterized by two features: a very low plasma insulin level, which does not vary during the survival of the diabetic animals and a concentration of plasma glucagon (of pancreatic origin) which transiently diminishes then rises far above the normal level, and is correlated with the basal concentration of plasma glucose. The impaired glucose tolerance observed in diabetic animals is related to the suppression of the glucose-insulin and glucose-glucagon feedback mechanisms.