Plasma glucose, ketone bodies, insulin, glucagon and enteroglucagon in cows: diurnal variations related to ketone levels before feeding and to the ketogenic effects of feeds.

Ingestions of a moderately ketogenic silage twice daily were followed by transient increments in plasma insulin and ketone bodies and decreases in plasma glucose. Ketone bodies and glucose were negatively correlated throughout the day, but the insulin elevations culminated before the maximal effects on ketone bodies and glucose were established. Cows with varying glucose levels before morning feeding reacted to a highly ketogenic silage by decreasing their glucose level uniformly to about 3 mmol/l, in spite of a widely varying feeding-induced insulin increment. Hay-feeding caused insulin increments of the same magnitude as silage-feeding, but the glucose decrease and the ketone increment was much smaller. The results indicate some direct action of ketone bodies on blood sugar regulation, in addition to effects mediated by insulin. The role of ketone bodies as the insulinotropic factor was not confirmed. The insulin level after feeding seems to be determined by the carbohydrate status of the animal before feeding. No significant changes in plasma glucagon were observed after feeding, and no consistent differences in plasma levels of this hormone were found when non-ketonemic, ketonemic, and clinically ketotic cows were compared. The plasma level of enteroglucagon (GLI) was positively correlated to the relative amount of concentrates consumed, but no relation to plasma glucose was found.