Social interaction and serum insulin values in the monkey (Macaca mulatta).

Social interaction studies were conducted with two groups of rhesus monkeys with abnormally elevated serum insulin values. In both studies, the animals that were lowest on the dominance-submissiveness scale showed a fall in insulin levels to within the normal range for the monkey. Upon removal from the group, insulin values in these animals returned to their previous elevated level. In neither instance was the fall in insulin level accompanied by fasting hyperglycemia.