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. 1970 Sep;49(9):1685–1693. doi: 10.1172/JCI106386

Effect of insulin and acute diabetes on plasma FFA and ketone bodies in the fasting rat

Frederick A Bieberdorf 1, Sidney S Chernick 1, Robert O Scow 1
PMCID: PMC322652  PMID: 5452413

Abstract

The metabolism of FFA and ketone bodies was studied in fasted rats by infusing at a constant rate tracer amounts of FFA-3H, β-hydroxybutyrate-14C or acetoacetate-14C for periods up to 2 hr. Blood that was removed for analyses was replaced by continuous transfusion. The rates of turnover of FFA, β-hydroxybutyrate, and acetoacetate in rats fasted for 2 days were, respectively, 3.2, 5.6, and 2.5 μmoles/100 g body weight per min.

Infusion of mannoheptulose with anti-insulin serum increased plasma glucose, FFA, and ketone body concentrations and decreased the specific activity of plasma FFA. Injection of insulin (20 mU i.v.) decreased almost simultaneously plasma glucose, FFA, and ketone body concentrations and increased the specific activity of FFA, but it did not affect the plasma concentration of FFA-3H. The findings indicate that insulin deprivation increased and insulin injection decreased the release of FFA from body tissues in fasting rats.

The plasma FFA concentration in fasting rats was increased by infusing chylomicrons and heparin, but this had very little effect on either plasma ketone body or glucose concentrations. Insulin injection (20 mU i.v.) lowered the plasma ketone body concentration in these animals. Studies using β-hydroxybutyrate-14C showed that insulin (50 mU i.v.) decreased ketogenesis in the presence of a sustained high plasma FFA concentration and had no effect on uptake of circulating ketone bodies.

The results indicate that plasma FFA concentration is not the sole determinant of plasma ketone body concentration and that insulin can suppress ketone body production through some means other than lowering plasma FFA concentration.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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