Absence of the Staub-Traugott effect in endotoxicosis

Intravenous glucose tolerance tests (IVGTTs) using 1.2 g/kg of D-glucose in fasted, male rats were repeated twice, with an interval of 75 min, during early (2.5 hr) and late (26.5 hr) nonlethal endotoxicosis induced by Salmonella enteritidis endotoxin (ETX) at 10 micrograms/kg i.v. In comparison with saline controls, glucose tolerance was dramatically increased in early endotoxicosis; however, it was restored to near normal in late endotoxicosis. Augmentation of tolerance by repeated IVGTTs i.e. the Staub-Traugott effect, occurred in the saline control groups; however, it was absent in both early and late endotoxicosis. The elevations of plasma insulin (IRI) in response to the glucose loads were exaggerated vs. controls in both early and late endotoxicosis; however, the hyperinsulinemias were not significantly diminished by repeated IVGTTs in any group. These results indicate loss of the Staub-Traugott effect in endotoxicosis that is 1) independent of augmented insulin secretory responses to a repeated glucose challenge and 2) dependent on some adaptive cellular mechanisms to repeated glucose loads which were impaired in nonlethal endotoxicosis.