Kidney function in experimental diabetic ketosis

Summary Rats both with streptozotocin and alloxan diabetes were used. Ketosis developed in the first days following the application of the diabetogenic agents, and also in rats with long term diabetes in the first days after the insulin previously administered daily, had been withdrawn. The rats with more elevated blood ketone levels also demonstrated strikingly high serum urea levels, oliguria and a diminished food intake. In the groups of rats which in spite of insulin deficiency revealed no or only mild ketonaemia, food intake was increased, and marked polyuria as well as near to normal serum urea levels were observed. Our results showed that the symptoms of uraemia occurred independently of the nature of the diabetic agent, and also of the time at which these agents were administered. Thus it can be concluded that in that case acute renal insufficiency was not due to the nephrotoxicity of the agents employed but rather to the severity of diabetic ketosis.Presented in part at the Jahresversammlung der Österreichischen Diabetes-Gesellschaft, Innsbruck 1970.