Table 1.

The effect of stress, metyrapone and dexamethasone on the rates of glucose and water

	Control rats	Stressed rats	Stressed rats + metyrapone	Control rats + dexamethasone
Glucose absorption
no phloretin	40.65 ± 2.9(9)	25.87 ± 0.81****(10)	38.26 ± 1.79§§§§(12)	23.97 ± 1.43****(11)
Glucose absorption
plus phloretin	11.32 ± 0.62††(4)	9.73 ± 1.58†††(5)	11.55 ± 3.59††(5)	16.66 ± 2.83††(6)
Water absorption	0.17 ± 0.02(9)	0.14 ± 0.02(10)	0.18 ± 0.01(12)	0.07 ± 0.01***(11)§§§

Rats were maintained on 0.05% metyrapone in 0.9% NaCl as drinking water for a minimum of 72 h at the end of which paired perfusions of untreated rats maintained on 0.9% NaCl showed that a stress response was present as monitored by inhibition of glucose absorption. Control rats (under stress-free conditions) were given an intraperitoneal injection of dexamethasone 21-sodium phosphate (5.0 mg (kg body weight)⁻¹ in 0.9% NaCl) approximately 60 min prior to perfusion studies. Paired perfusions of saline-injected rats showed that during this series of experiments a stress response was not present. Glucose absorption (μmol min⁻¹ (g dry weight)⁻¹) was measured in the presence and absence of phloretin (1 mm). Water transport is expressed in ml min⁻¹ (g dry weight)⁻¹. Values are given as mean ± s.e.m. with the number of experiments in parentheses.

^***P < 0.001

^****P < 0.0001 when compared with control

^§§§P < 0.001

^§§§§P < 0.0001 versus stressed by unpaired Students t test.

^††P < 0.01

^†††P < 0.001 in paired Student's t test of glucose transport rate ± phloretin.