Insulin secretion in hypoglycemia after adrenal vein ligature or splachnicotomy.

During bonito insulin-induced hypoglycemia in dogs, pancreatic venous dog insulin concentration (IRI), radioimmunoassayed differentially from bonito insulin, was progressively diminished in response to local glucose infusion (0.6 mg/kg - min) for 4 min into the superior pancreaticoduodenal artery. Basal arterial plasma glucose was significantly lower after bilateral splanchnicotomy (BSNC) than after bilateral adrenal vein ligature (BAVL). During local glucose infusion in both normoglycemia and hypoglycemia, the increment of pancreatic venous IRI was significantly greater after BAVL or BSNC than in the controls, and the increment of pancreatic venous glucose was also significantly greater after BAVL than in the controls or after BSNC. It is suggested that under the stress of major surgery the splanchnic nerves partially suppress insulin secretion in normoglycemia as well as in hypoglycemia, and epinephrine released from the adrenal medulla may interfere with glucose-mediated insulin secretion in profound hypoglycemia.