JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE 5:763-795, 1964 C'4 Glucose Kinetic Studies in Normal, Diabetic,

In the past few years several methods have been introduced for the study of the kinetics of C'4 glucose in humans or laboratory animals. Among these methods, the most popular ones presently appear to be the priming dose-con tinuous infusion (1), the successive tracer injection (2), and the single tracer injection methods (3). The priming dose-continuous infusion method consists of giving an initial dose of C'4 glucose and simultaneously starting a constant continuous infusion of this tracer. It provides a means of calculating various parameters for both the glucose compartment and the bicarbonate compartment, but the determination of an asymptote required for some of these calculations sometimes presents a difficulty. The successive tracer injection method is per formed by giving injections of C'4 glucose at various tinues, the time of each in jection depending on the preceding events. This method was devised to study the characteristics of the glucose compartment. it has not been extended to include the bicarbonate compartment. The simplest method which allows the calculation of parameters for both the glucose and bicarbonate compartments i