Diminution of ethanol-induced hyperglycaemia in the rat by administration of beta-lactam antibiotics with a tetrazole thiol group.

The acute-onset hyperglycaemia produced by i.p. injection of 2 g of ethanol/kg body weight in adult female SPF Sprague-Dawley rats (200-220 g) was considerably less pronounced when 100 mumol/kg b.w. of one of the following tetrazole thiol-containing beta-lactam antibiotics (BLAs) was given i.p. 3 hours in advance: cephamandole (CMD), moxalactam (MOX), cephoperazone (CPZ) or cephothiam (CTM). An equimolar dose of cephazolin (CEZ), a thiadiazole thiol-containing cephalosporin, did not affect the ethanol-induced hyperglycaemia. Administration of an equimolar oral dose of disulfiram, which has an NCS structure similar to that of the tetrazole thiol-containing BLAs, produced an additional increase of the ethanol-induced hyperglycaemia. The diminution of the ethanol-induced hyperglycaemia by BLAs with a tetrazole thiol group appears to be linked to their NCS structure. It is conceivable that this effect which might be important for human therapy, is causally related to an inhibition of the glycolytic or gluconeogenetic enzyme system.