Some Effects of Alloxan Diabetes on Acute Inflammation

¹ From the Department of Biochemistry, University of Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri

A standard acute inflammatory response was produced in the palates of 150-gm Sprague-Dawley rats after the animals had been rendered severely diabetic by intraperitoneal injection of alloxan. The tissue of the experimental lesion was analyzed at various time intervals after application of the irritant up to 14 days. Similar analyses were performed on samples of uninflamed tissue. The increases in DNA and acid-soluble organic phosphorus observed during inflammation in nondiabetic rats were almost abolished in the diabetic rats, while the glycogen buildup observed in nondiabetic rats was increased 3-fold in the diabetic animals. Tyrosine concentration increased in the diabetic animals during inflammation but exhibited a time lag compared to nondiabetic rats. There was no change in the behavior of tissue water, hexosamine, hydroxyproline, RNA, inorganic phosphorus, total nitrogen or nonprotein nitrogen. The results suggest that in nondiabetic animals there occurs a delay in the early healing stage of an acute inflammatory response.