Stimulation of nerves innervating the dog's pancreas

Our aim was to modulate secretion of insulin and glucagon into the blood of a diabetic but otherwise healthy dog with stimulation of nerves innervating the pancreas. The 33 electrode spiral cuffs were implanted in an adult beagle canine. The first cuff was installed on the vagus nerve, the second one on the splanchnic nerve, and the last one on the pancreatic nerve. To cause insulin-dependent Type I diabetes, partial dysfunction of the pancreas was induced. Nerves were stimulated using biphasic, rectangular current pulses (10 mA, 200 micros, 20 Hz). Samples from the femoral artery were drawn before the experiment, after 5 min, and 5 min after the stimulation stopped. The results of radioimmunological assay of blood samples showed that in the intact pancreas, stimulation of the vagus nerve caused a considerable increase in insulin secretion, no significant change in glucagon secretion, and a decrease in C-peptide secretion. Splanchnic nerve stimulation did not cause considerable change in insulin and C-peptide secretion while considerable increase in glucagon secretion was noticed. Pancreatic nerve stimulation did not considerably change the secretion of any of the three hormones. In the dysfunctioned pancreas, vagal nerve stimulation caused an increase in insulin and glucagon secretion and a minor increase in C-peptide secretion. Splanchnic nerve stimulation caused a minor decrease in insulin secretion, a considerable increase in glucagon secretion, and a small increase in C-peptide secretion. Pancreatic nerve stimulation did not cause a considerable change in insulin secretion while a minor increase in glucagon and C-peptide secretion was observed.