Effect of glipizide on muscle metabolism in vitro.

This paper contains the results of further investigation on the possible extrapancreatic activity of glipizide. An in vitro method, using isolated rat diaphragm was selected. Muscle uptake of C14 glucose and output of labelled CO2, were measured. Insulin was used as the reference substance. The results of our experiments indicate that there is a qualitative difference in the effects of the two experimental situations. However, from these findings it may be assumed that glipizide facilitates the uptake and metabolism of glucose in muscle, thus demonstrating an extrapancreatic effect, which contributes to the hypoglycemic activity of the drug.