Salicylates were first observed to lower the blood sugar of diabetics at the turn of the century. However, aspirin was not used in the treatment of diabetics because it was believed that the hypoglycemic effect was the result of an hepatotoxic action of the drug. 1 More recently salicylate has been observed to reduce the glycosuria and hyperglycemia of the alloxanized 2 and partially depancreatized rat. 3 Salicylate has also been shown to increase the glucose uptake by isolated rat diaphragm. 4 Reid and McDougaf gave two-week courses of aspirin therapy to seven diabetics and noted in all a marked drop in blood sugar, with abolition of glycosuria. In a later study they observed a marked decrease in insulin requirement in twelve diabetics in whom salicylate was administered simultaneously with insulin. 6 Hecht and Goldner gave acetylsalicylate to twelve diabetic patients and thirteen nondiabetic patients. A significant hypoglycemic effect was obtained in most instances, and an insulin sparing effect demonstrated. 7 Our interest in the reported hypoglycemic effects of salicylates was stimulated by the currently widespread notion that salicylate actions in many respects mimic corticosteroid actions, either by stimulation of corticosteroid production or by some other obscure mechanism. The diabetogenic effect of steroids is well known; here, then, we see an action of salicylate, namely, that on carbohydrate metabolism which is opposed to that of the steroid hormones.
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