Blood pyruvic acid response to intravenous glucose or insulin in the normal and in patients with liver disease and with diabetes mellitus.

Determination of pyruvic acid and of glucose in the blood was done by Friedemann's (1) modification of the Lu method (2) and the Benedict method (3), respectively. The control group consisted of 28 healthy men ranging in age from 25 to 50 years. The series investigated by means of intravenously administered glucose included 15 patients with portal cirrhosis of the liver (three in hepatic coma), and 23 patients with controlled mild and severe diabetes mellitus (11 requiring 25 to 40 units of protamine zinc insulin daily). A total of 0.5 gm. of glucose per kilo of body weight was administered intravenously within 30 minutes, and blood was analyzed for pyruvic acid and glucose at 0, 30, 60, 120, and 180 minutes. The effect of 12 units of intravenously administered crystalline insulin was studied on 11 fasting normal subjects and five fasting diabetics requiring insulin.