[Glucose elevates the permeability of microcirculation vessels]

The measurements were accomplished by using an experimental setup in which an intestinal loop with adjacent mesentery of an anaesthetized rat was immersed in a buffer-containing cuvette. After i.v. injection of Evans' Blue (EB) the extravasation of the dye, which is bound to plasma albumin, was measured colorimetrically. From the curves recorded it could be derived that after i.v. injection of 2 or 4 g or infusion of 6 g/h glucose (Gk) per kg body weight the permeation of albumin-bound EB was increased by a factor of about 1.9, 3.1 and 2.0 respectively. As mechanism of these effects it is assumed that Gk (but also galactose and saccharose in control experiments) act by osmotically shrinking the endothelial cells and opening their junctions.