Spontaneous Diabetes in Macaca Nigra

Abstract

In a closed breeding colony of Macaca nigra (black Celebes apes) there was a marked proclivity for a spontaneous diabetic-like state closely analogous to human diabetes. Numerous diabetic signs were present, including abnormal intravenous and oral glucose tolerance tests, hyperglycemia, impaired insulin response, hypertriglyceridemia, increased prebetalipoprotein, retinal vascular aberrations, abnormalities in the islets of Langerhans, and pronounced weight loss in a few severely diabetic monkeys. A classification of diabetic status established primarily on deviation of the intravenous glucose tolerance test from results in normal Celebes apes places over 50 per cent of these interrelated monkeys in nonnormal categories.