Little or no induction of hyperglycemia by 2-deoxy-D-glucose in hereditary blind microphthalmic rats

Studies were made on whether hereditary microphthalmic rats (1), which are congenitally blind, showed a hyperglycemic response to intracerebroventricular injection of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) in their subjective light period. In contrast to previous findings in normal rats in which 2DG injection caused light-cycle dependent hyperglycemia (2) and bilateral lesion of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) completely abolished this hyperglycemia (3), 2DG injection caused no and only slight hyperglycemia in male and female rats with hereditary microphthalmia, respectively. Gross and histological examinations indicated that these rats had no optic nerve or retinohypothalamic tract and that their SCN had an abnormal structure. Locomotive activity recordings showed that all the blind rats had a free-running circadian activity rhythm. These findings suggest that the projection sites of the retinohypothalamic tract to the SCN are involved in the mechanism of the hyperglycemic response to 2DG, but that neural cells, which may be responsible for the generation of circadian rhythms, are not. We have reported that when adult rats were blinded by orbital enucleation, their hyperglycemic response to 2DG was suppressed temporarily 3-5 weeks after the operation, but that their plasma insulin level was basically higher and increased further after 2DG injection during this period (4). In congenitally blind rats, however, the basal plasma insulin level was not higher and the level did not change after 2DG treatment. This difference is discussed from the view point of the role of the premature SCN in regulation of the plasma insulin concentration.