The impact of August Krogh on the insulin treatment of diabetes and our present status.

The influence of August Krogh on the introduction of insulin preparations in Scandinavia is mentioned, and his outstanding physiological background is outlined. Developments in preparation of insulin depending on the progress in protein-chemistry are summarized. The latest step in the purification of insulin extracted from pork pancreas now allows treatment of diabetics with protamine-pork-insulin without causing formation of insulin-antibodies in at least 90 per cent treated with insulin through several months. In only 3 out of 51 diabetics was it possible to demonstrate insulin-antibodies. This new step may be of great interest in two ways 1) it is now possible to make insulin-estimations in the plasma of insulin-treated cases and 2) it will be possible to find out whether elimination of insulin-antibody-formation will reduce the degree of vascular lesions in diabetics, such lesions being the greatest problem in clinical diabetes.