Does adrenergic activity suppress insulin secretion during surgery? A clinical experiment with halothane anesthesia

Peroperative inhibition of insulin release is widely attributed to increased alpha-adrenergic activity. To test this hypothesis serum insulin and glucose concentrations were measured at short intervals in 11 patients who underwent major surgery. Five patients were anesthetized with halothane and six with general anesthesia without halothane. The results were similar in both patient groups; halothane had no effect on insulin. This suggests that suppression of insulin under operations is probably not due to activation of the alpha-adrenergic receptors of the pancreatic beta-cells. The authors propose that suppression of insulin secretion during surgery may be caused by adrenaline, which, in competing for the glucose receptors, insensitizes the pancreatic beta-cells.