Differences between lactating and non-lactating dairy cows in concentration and secretion rate of insulin

1. Four parameters of insulin metabolism were compared in catheterized lactating and non-lactating Friesian x Ayrshire dairy cows. 2. The four parameters, i.e. arterial and portal-venous concentrations of insulin, and pancreatic output and hepatic uptake of insulin, were approx. 2-, 3-, 3- and 5-fold higher respectively in the non-lactating cows than in the lactating cows in the normal fed state. Statistical significance was not achieved for the differences in magnitude in the case of the latter two parameters, however. 3. All four parameters increased significantly about 4-fold when non-lactating cows were infused intravenously with glucose for 48 h at a rate of 4.2 mmol/min. The parameters also increased in the lactating cows during glucose infusion, but the values reached were substantially lower than in the non-lactating cows and the increases were not statistically significant. 4. Arterial insulin concentrations doubled in the non-lactating cows during a 3 h infusion of propionate into a mesenteric vein, but remained unaltered in the lactating cows. 5. Differences in insulin concentration and output between the lactating and non-lactating cows were not consistently related to differences in either glucose concentration or glucose-entry rate. Arterial propionate concentrations were similar in both groups of cows at all times. 6. It is concluded that in the dairy cow, insulin secretion in response to an insulinotropic agent is diminished during lactation.