[Continuous intravenous glucose infusion tests].

Sixty minutes' intravenous glucose infusion tests were carried out in normal subjects, borderline cases, and diabetics which were diagnosed by 50 g oral glucose tolerance test . Infusion was performed at the rate of 5 mg/kg/min . or 15 mg/kg/min. using 5% or 10% glucose. The difference in the insulin responses among thesegroups was rather marked in the case of 15 mg/kg/min. infusion of 10% glucose for 60 minutes . In the diabetics the insulin response to continuousintravenous glucose infusion was low from the start of the test and remained low during the test . Serum insulin response of normal subjects, diabetics and patients with chronic hepatitis or hyperthyroidism was increased for a littlewhile after the end of a 30 minutes' glucose infusion against decreasing blood sugar level and then returned to the basal line. Diabetics showed a low insulin response during theglucose infusion and a slight response after the end of infusion-delayed insulin response. In patients with chronic hepatitis or hyperthyroidism insulin responses were higher than normal, during the infusion and especially after the end of glucose infusion , and the time to reach the peak value was later than normal subjects—excessive insulin response. In the 60 minutes' glucose infusion test in the normal subjects total insulin response of the second half was higher than the first half . But, in the diabetics, total insulin response of the first half was almost the same as that of the second half. We concluded that these two glucose infusion tests are excellent tests to differentiate normal subjects from diabetics and from patients with chronic hepatitis or hyperthyroidism. (See pp. 1336-,-1344)