The insulin activity of the blood plasma in female and newborn rabbits during alloxan diabetes induced at different periods of pregnancy

Insulin activity of the blood in female and newborn rabbits was determined at the immediate post-partum period by the method of glucose uptake by the isolated epididymis fat of rats. In control animals the insulin activity of the blood in female rabbits was 809 µ U/ml. Upon administration of alloxan on the 12th day of prenancy in a dose of 200 mg/kg,diabetes was compensated by the time of delivery in almost all the rabbits; the insulin activity of the blood was increased (1057 µ U/ml). In rabbits which received a similar dose of alloxan on the 22nd day of pregnancy, the insulin activity of the blood after delivery was 1225 µ U/ml and in newborn rabbits 1214 µ U/ml. Consequently, alloxan diabetes, existing for a brief period of time and compensated by the time of delivery, may cause hyperfunction of the insular apparatus of the fetus only if it existed at the moment of functioning of the fetal insular apparatus, i.e. at the end of pregnancy.