THE EFFECTS OF CORTISONE ON NITROGEN BALANCE AND GLUCOSE METABOLISM IN DIABETIC AND NORMAL KANGAROOS, SHEEP AND RABBITS

Alloxan diabetes can be induced in red and in grey kangaroos and the ini-tial changes in blood sugar levels after injection of the drug are similar to those in other herbivores, or in other vertebrates generally. In general the presence or absence and the severity of catabolic effects of diabetes in rabbits, sheep and red kangaroos all eating the same diet depends on the amount of food eaten. Injection of large amounts of cortisone into normal rabbits and a sheep induced the usual catabolic effects and injection of cortisone exacerbated the catabolism of diabetic rabbits and diabetic sheep. The same and larger dose rates of cortisone injected into 12 normal and two diabetic red kangaroos had no effect on N balance, hyperglycaemia, food intake, glycosuria, in-sulin sensitivity, or on intravenous glucose tolerance