Ketone Bodies and Evidence for increased Insulin Secretion

Abstract

IT is at present not clear whether ketone bodies may^1,2 or may not^3–5 cause increased insulin secretion in man. The solution of this problem is of great importance to the further understanding of the role of ketone bodies in modifying glucose and free fatty acid (FFA) metabolism in the whole organism. Initially, reports by Brachmachari and co-workers^6,7 showed that injection of β-hydroxybutyrate (βOHB) might lower the blood sugar of rabbits. This was ascribed to the ability of βOHB to stimulate insulin secretion, for a previous study had shown that repeated injections of βOHB increased the concentration of insulin present in the pancreas of guinea-pigs. It was suggested that over a period of time such stimulation might lead to “overwork atrophy” of the pancreas, a finding which could be of some relevance to the genesis of the diabetic state. Shortly after this, however, R-Candela and colleagues failed to note any significant increase in insulin release from pancreatic slices incubated in vitro with βOHB⁸.