Abstract
IN hyperthyroidism a decreased glucose tolerance with a diabetic-like glycæmic curve has been found by some authors1–3. Some of them ascribe this change to the damage caused to the pancreas by the toxic effect of thyroxine on β-cells of Langerhans islets4,5, others to the relative or absolute insulin deficiency1. However, Amatuzio et al. 6,7, in their studies on patients with hyperthyroidism, showed that both the rate of disappearance of glucose during the intravenous glucose tolerance test and the glucose tolerance are normal or increased. This observation has been confirmed by my own studies on patients and experimental animals8. Recently, Conn and Fajans9,10 have suggested the use of the cortisone–glucose tolerance test for investigating the latent insufficiency of insulin secretion in the non-diabetic relatives of known diabetics. Since the rapid intravenous glucose tolerance test in animals with hyperthyroidism was within the normal range8, the cortisone–glucose tolerance test was employed for ascertaining the latent damage to the pancreas.
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MACHO, L. Cortisone–Glucose Tolerance Test in Normal and Thyroxine-treated Rabbits. Nature 181, 620 (1958). https://doi.org/10.1038/181620a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/181620a0
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