No abstract

The serum glucose values of 1,423 blood samples from 620 Mystromys albicaudatus have been determined and defined as orthoglycemic or hyperglycemic. Analyses of variance tests and regression analyses of the data revealed a significant difference between orthoglycemic and hyperglycemic serum glucose means and indicated that serum glucose is not affected by sex, inbreeding, or age in these animals. However, within classifications of orthoglycemic and hyperglycemic, weight did affect serum glucose. Therefore, while obesity did not occur during this study, obese-hyperglycemia syndromes might be expected should the animals become overweight.The data and their analyses are strongly indicative that spontaneous diabetes mellitus in M. albicaudatus, as related to hyperglycemia, is very similar to the disease in man.

A detailed description of a method for the determination of serum arginase activity is presented. Arginase activity is demonstrated by the decrease in arginine concentration in a reaction mixture, as determined by a modification of the method of Sakaguchi. The reaction is linear until inhibited by the increasing concentration of ornithine. The cellular distribution of arginase is reviewed to determine its role in diagnosis and in the evaluation of biologic systems.

Skeletal muscle capillary basement membrane thickness was determined in age- and sex-matched normal and spontaneously diabetic Mystromys albicaudatus. In nondiabetic animals the average basement membrane thickness was 482.6+/-48.7 A as against 779.0+/-319.9 A in the diabetic ones. This difference was statistically significant at P less than 0.005.