Insulin prevention of impaired renal calcium transport in alloxan-diabetic rats.

The uptake of calcium-45 was measured in slices of kidney cortex from rats with alloxan-diabetes of increasing durations. Slices from untreated diabetic rats had significantly lower slice-to-medium ratios for calcium than did slices from control rats, reflecting decreased uptake of calcium by cortical slices from diabetic rats. Institution of daily insulin therapy immediately upon confirmation of diabetes prevented this depression of calcium uptake, even though the insulin therapy was insufficient to control blood glucose levels. After four weeks of untreated alloxan-diabetes, insulin therapy did not return calcium uptake by kidney cortex slices to control levels.