Bm 1217 in the arteriovenous glucose difference
(Moorhouse and Kark, 1956;Purnell et al, 1956).In a previous study we were unable to demonstrate by the rat-diaphragm technique any increase in the insulin-like activity of the serum in diabetic patients on tolbutamide treatment
(Weaver et al, 1958). However, should the hypoglycaemic properties of sulphonylureas be due entirely to a depression of hepatic glycogenolysis, such an effect is probably manifest only if it is associated with some peripheral utilization of glucose, and hence the dependence on insulin.
The finding that males are less likely to respond than females might be expected from the results of Wrenshall and Hamilton (1957) on the levels of insulin extractable at post-mortem examination from the pancreas of diabetic subjects.