Ketone-glucose interaction in fed, fasted, and fasted-infected sheep

Ketosis following starvation was suppressed by hindlimb infection in seven fasted sheep. Glucose production determined following the primed constant infusion of [6-3H(N)]glucose was elevated in the fasted-infected animals (9.50 +/- 1.11 mmol X kg-1 X min-1 (mean +/- SE) versus fasted controls (5.56 +/- 2.2). To determine if the ketonemia following sepsis contributed to the increased glucogenesis associated with catabolic disorder, glucose production and arterial substrates were measured before and after infusion of sodium-DL-beta-hydroxybutyrate (beta-OHB, 20 mumol X kg-1 X min-1) in fed, fasted, and fasted-infected animals. Following 3 h of beta-OHB infusion in the awake conditioned animals, beta-OHB and acetoacetate blood concentrations more than doubled. With infusion, blood glucose and alanine concentrations decreased in the fed and fasted sheep but not in the fasted-infected group. Glucose production fell significantly from 10.11 +/- 1.33 to 8.44 +/- 1.05 in the fed animals and from 5.05 +/- 0.28 to 4.11 +/- 0.33 in the fasted group. Glucose production was unaffected by beta-OHB infusion in the fasted-infected animals (9.50 +/- 1.83 vs. 9.11 +/- 1.44). The accelerated rate of glucose production in sheep following infection is not a consequence of the hypoketonemic state associated with sepsis.