To evaluate the effect of insulin in rabbits at different intervals

1. AIM: To evaluate the effect of insulin in rabbits at different time
intervals
Presented by:
Prof. Mirza Anwar Baig
Dept of Pharmcology
AIKTC, School of Pharmacy, New Panvel

2. REQUIREMENTS:
Animal:
Rabbits weighing 1.8-2.2 kg.
Drug:
20 units of insulin preparation.
Normal saline, HI, 0.5% Phenol, 14-18% glycerin.

3. Principle:
• Insulin is a peptide hormone produced by the Beta cells of pancreas in
response to high glucose level in the blood.
• A released insulin act on the insulin receptors on body cells and activates
glucose transporters to absorb more glucose into the cells thereby regulates
carbohydrates protein and fat metabolism in body cells.
• Reduced blood glucose levels inhibits insulin release and stimulates α-cells of
pancreas to release glucagon to maintain glucose levels in the blood by
glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis.

5. PROCEDURE:
1. Select healthy rabbits weighing 1.8-3.2 kg for the study.
2. Prepare the drug solution freshly before administration.
3. Weigh 20 units of insulin accurately and dissolve in normal saline.
4. Acidify the solution by using concentrated HCl and adjust pH 2.5.
5. Add 0.5% of phenol as a preservative and 1.4-1.8% of glycerin and make
the final volume to 20 units/ml of solution.
6. The animals should be maintained on uniform diet for 7 days.
7. Three rabbits to be fasted for 18 hours with no access to water before
starting the procedure.

6. PROCEDURE:
8. Withdraw 2 ml of blood from marginal ear vein of each rabbit and estimate
blood glucose level by using suitable method.
9.The concentration of glucose can be noted down as initial blood glucose level.
10. Then inject insulin (1 unit/ml) to the animals and check the blood sugar level
up to 5 hours at the interval of 1 hour each.
11. Determine blood glucose levels as final blood sugar levels and compare both
initial and final blood glucose levels.

7. Observation:
Sr. No Initial blood
glucose level
(mg/ml)
Final glucose level at different time
intervals in (hour)
1 2 3 4
5
1 136.79 116.76 78.83 89.65 119.74 128.54
2 139.43 125.65 79.65 88.43 114.64 134.98
3 142.45 134.62 83.62 94.71 113.51 138.03
Average 139.55 125.67 80.70 90.93 115.97 133.85

8. Conclusion:
• A decrease in mean percentage blood glucose levels was observed at
different time intervals, maximum decline was noted after 2 hr which
determine hypoglycemic effects of insulin.

9. References:
• Ghosh MN. Fundamentals of Experimental
Pharmacology. Hilton & Company, Kolkata.
• Kulkarni SK. Handbook of experimental
pharmacology. VallabhPrakashan

10. Thank You