Kinetics of glucose delivery to subcutaneous tissue in rats measured with 0.3 mm amperometric microsensors. Quinn, C. P., M. V. Pishko, D. W. Schmidtke, M. Ishikawa, J. G. Wagner, P. Raskin, J. A. Hubbell, and A. Heller. Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712-1062, USA, Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, Texas, 75235-8858, USA
APStracts 2:0041E, 1995.
The time between intravenous injection of a glucose bolus and the time the glucose concentration peaked in the subcutaneous tissue was measured in pentobarbital anesthetized rats with implanted 290 [mu]m diameter amperometric sensors. Boluses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight were injected. The glucose concentration in the jugular vein was monitored by frequent withdrawal and analysis of samples. The glucose concentration in the subcutaneous tissue was continuously monitored with the sensors. The times required for the subcutaneously implanted sensor to reach its maxima, corrected for sensor response time, were 7.5 + 3.9 min, 9.8 + 5.5 min and 10.0 + 4.4 min for the smallest to the largest dose, respectively. The shorter delay in response to the smallest dose was statistically significant (p < 0.03). The results were consistent with dilution of the bolus in the cardiovascular system and transport of glucose both by diffusion and by facilitated transport via a saturable mediator. An understanding of the differences in the dynamics of venous versus subcutaneous response to a glucose dose is important in developing algorithms for the control of blood glucose based on a subcutaneous measurement.

Received 28 November 1994; accepted in final form 21 February
1995.
APS Manuscript Number E489-4.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Endocrinol. Metab.).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 10 March 1995.