ABSTRACT
The chronic hyperglycemic condition induced by immobilization can hardly be explained in terms of the epinephrine mechanism alone. An increase in blood sugar levels to 160–180 mg % is impossible with normal levels of insulin release into the bloodstream. The chronic hyperglycemia is therefore more likely attributable to reduced insulin output or to an elevated threshold of the pancreatic mechanism that ordinarily releases insulin as a function of blood sugar level. I. M. Sokoloverova described the only case in the literature of spontaneously occurring diabetes of pancreatic origin in a baboon. This female hamadryas baboon showed classic signs of diabetes mellitus: hyperglycemia, glucosuria, polydipsia, polyuria, and polyphagia. The hyperglycemic reactions that have been studied in various animals, including monkeys, have not as yet conclusively elucidated the diabetic state. This may be because once diabetes mellitus has been induced by brain mechanisms involving emotional stress, such stress is not necessary to sustain it.
