Preventive Action of Tranylcypromine on Alloxan Diabetes in Rats

Abstract

The intraperitoneal injection of tranylcypromine (25 mg./kg.) twenty minutes before the intravenous administration of alloxan prevents the onset of diabetes in the rat. The same protective effect is observed when the monoamine-oxidase inhibitor is injected intravenously (10 mg./kg.) fifteen seconds before alloxan. When these two drugs are mixed in vitro and injected intravenously, the protection disappears. This protective action against diabetes appears to indicate that tranylcypromine protects important enzymatic centers against the action of alloxan at the pancreatic level.