Effect of hyperglycemia independent of changes in insulin or glucagon on lipolysis in the conscious dog.

In the face of fixed basal levels of insulin (9 microunits/ml) and glucagon (63 pg/ml) maintained by the infusion of somatostatin and replacement amounts of the two pancreatic hormones, the mean arterial plasma glucose concentration was elevated from 102 to 217 mg/dl by continuous glucose infusion. Hyperglycemia resulted in a significant decrease in the arterial blood glycerol (35%) and plasma free fatty acid concentrations (46%). The drop in the blood glycerol level was paralleled by a decline in hepatic glycerol uptake indicating that hyperglycemia did not alter the fractional extraction of glycerol by the liver. These results support the view that glucose has a direct antilipolytic effect in vivo.