On insulin‐like actions of morphine and certain morphine derivatives¹

Abstract

(With 9 flgores in the text.)The intimate connection between the many functions of the living cells and the biological oxidation processes makes the question of the influence of drugs on cell oxidations an important task for research. Our modern methods for the study of cell and tissue oxidation havc also opened a new and extensive field for experimental pharmacology.In this paper are presented the results of a series of investigations in which the action of morphine, some other opium alkaloids, and certain morphine derivatives on the oxidation processes in frogs' inuscles has been studied. They have been investigated mainly by the aid of Thunberg's methylene blue method, but partly also with the microrespirometric technique of the same author.It was during work on the influence of insulin on tissue metabolism that the question of the action of morphine and related substances became of interest.It was found that insulin exerts a typical action on tissue oxidation; an action which is in all probability intimately related t o the primary physiological function of insulin. It was possible t o demonstrate that insulin, in cooperation with glucose and a certain agent, glueornutin, present in the cells, strongly accelerates the oxidation rate in the tissues under certain conditions2 [Ahlgren (I)].