[Relation of glucose tolerance and intracellular sodium concentration]

In rabbits with standard diet, in cholesterolaemic rabbits, in pregnant women with physiological hyperinsulinism and in a control group with lower peripheral insulin concentrations after glucose load negative correlations were found between the intracellular sodium content and the KG-value of the intravenous glucose tolerance test. The hormonally regulated blood glucose regulating circle was a prerequisite for these relations, since in vitro a high sodium concentration in the erythrocytes was connected with a high glucose uptake rate. The findings in the total organism were explained by cell membrane properties which stabilise the level of the intracellular sodium concentration as well as are important for functions of the blood glucose regulating circle. As a link between the carbohydrate metabolism and the electrolyte metabolism the SH-groups of the cell membrane were discussed. This concept was used for a pathophysiological explanation of the higher erythrocytic sodium concentrations proved in manifest diabetics.