Journal of Nutrition

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Journal of Nutrition Vol. 113 No. 5 May 1983, pp. 1081-1083
Copyright © 1983 by American Society for Nutrition
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Impaired Glucose Tolerance in Copper-Deficient Rats1

C. A. Hassel, J. A. Marchello and K. Y. Lei

Department of Animal Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721

Forty-eight male weanling Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly and equally divided into two dietary treatments (copper-deficient and adequate: 0.85 mg and 8 mg of Cu/kg diet). Deionized water and diet were provided ad libitum. After 5 weeks, the rats were fasted for 18 hours, anesthetized with sodium pentobarbitol and injected intravenously with glucose (1 g/kg body wt in a 50% wt/vol solution). Six rats from each treatment were killed by exsanguination at 0, 30, 60 and 120 minutes after glucose injection. Liver copper was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Reduction in liver copper content and elevation in heart weight confirmed that the rats fed the test diet were copper-deficient. Plasma glucose levels in copper-deficient rats were significantly higher at 30 and 60 minutes compared to controls. After 2 hours there were no significant differences between treatments. Plasma insulin levels measured by radioimmunoassay were significantly lower at 30 minutes, but higher at 60 and 120 minutes in rats fed the test diet as compared to controls. It would thus appear likely that copper deficiency interferes with normal glucose utilization.

KEY WORDS: • copper deficiency • glucose metabolism

1 Aided by funds from the American Heart Association and by Biomedical Research Support Grant S07 RR07002 awarded by the National Institutes of Health. Paper submitted as No. 432 from University of Arizona Agriculture Experiment Station.

Manuscript received 30 November 1982.




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