A diabetogenic polypeptide from hog and sheep adenohypophysis similar to that found in lipoatrophic diabetes

Abstract

A polypeptide possessing physical and biological properties similar to that excreted in the urine by patients with lipoatrophic diabetes was previously isolated from bovine adenohypophysis. A similar principle has now been obtained from the anterior lobes of hog and sheep pituitaries by the same procedures of isolation. The material from these animals also induces hyperglycemia and insulin resistance both in humans and dogs. The substance exhibits no similarity in physicochemical properties to either growth hormone or prolactin. Its presence in the pituitary gland of all three species of animals so far studied suggests that the peptide is a naturally occurring substance but its physiological significance is unknown. Its physicochemical and biological similarity to the urinary polypeptide found in lipoatrophic diabetes suggests a relationship.