Abstract
ALTHOUGH the main outline of the action of insulin on the metabolism of carbohydrate is now fairly clear, the actual details of the chemical transformations occurring in the synthesis and combustion of sugar in the body are still only known in part. The view that insulin transforms glucose into some reactive form, although still maintained by some investigators, has not been confirmed by others. Either there is a failure to find any change in the rotation of the glucose under the influence of muscle tissue and insulin (A. B. Anderson and A. Carruthers, Biochem. Jour., vol. 20, p. 556; 1926), or discrepancies between the polarimetric and copper reduction values of the extracts examined are considered to be explicable rather on the basis of the presence of other optically active or reducing substances in addition to the glucose (H. F. Holden, ibid., p. 263, and G. S. Lund and C. G. L. Wolf, ibid., p. 259). Anderson and Carruthers have also found that the polarimetric value of dialysates or extracts of blood varies according to the reaction of the solution at the time of estimation.
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Insulin and Carbohydrate Metabolism. Nature 121, 260–261 (1928). https://doi.org/10.1038/121260a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/121260a0