In some studies being carried on at the New England Deaconess Hospital on the metabolism of sugars in patients with diabetes mellitus, it has been observed occasionally that intravenous administration of dextrose is not followed by the expected rise in the respiratory quotient. As intravenous injection of dextrose is a common practice in medicine, particularly after surgical procedures, it was considered worth while to make a comparative study of the changes in the respiratory quotient and in the total metabolic rate of normal human subjects after oral ingestion and after intravenous administration of this sugar.
In 2 fasting rabbits given intravenous injections of dextrose (10 cc. of a 13 per cent solution in thirteen minutes and 50 cc. of a solution containing 6 Gm.—rate of injection not stated) Zuntz and von Mering1 noted marked increases in the respiratory quotient. In another fasting rabbit, given by stomach tube 20 Gm.