Evening star., 1923-07-30
PLANTS GIVE CHEAP
CURE FOR DIABETES
Abundant Source Announced
for Drug With Proper
ties of InsuIin.
Special Dispatch to The Star

Especial Dispatch TO The Star.
NEW YORK. July 3o.-Even the
1owly onion may contribute to
sciences spreading war on diabetes.
Discovery OF "Glucokinin," derived
from plants and appearing to have
the properties of insulin. is described
by ]. j. willaman, associate profes-
.sor of biechemistry in the University
of Minnesota, in a statement made
publ.a today by the American Chemi-
cal society.
Recent discoveries in this field es
sta ablish one more profound relation
ship between plants and animals.
says Prof Willaman. who reports
Successful use of glucokinin on dia-
bette dogs and rabbits. Clinical
tests as yet have not been made on
human beings.
Things are changing fast in the
.diabetic world" continued Prof. Will
laman. 1T was just "A year ago that
a group of scientists at the University
of Toronto announced that they had
prepared an extract pancresa Which,
when injected into dogs. would
cause n lowering of the sugar con-
tent OF the blood
Success With Humans.
Since then the extract has been
used successfully in the case OF hu.
man diabetes at several clinics, ana
has been manufactured colnmerclailS
Now the announcement Is mace tnat
the active principle has been demon
strated in plant tissue. including let
tuce. bean leaves, and even the low
ly onion.
4. I'm diabetes the sugar in the blood
Is abnormally high, due to failure OF
stance to the blood. which assists
nancreas - the real cause OF all Of
the troubles 10 which humans are heir
under the name of diabetes.
IF the panCreas of normal noS
is removed, the blood sugar increases
markedly in a short time, ana De
pancreatized. dogs make good sub
jects for securing important lntor-
nation on this dreaded disease.
IF Iinsulin'. the name of. the pre-
pared pancreas extract. is injected
gar is considerably reduced within
The course of the next hour or two
Even a healthy animal VIII show a
decrease of blood sugar after In
lection of inSulln.
Now DR.. ]. B. Collip. formerly one
of the Toronto University group, who
first made insulin and now at the
University of Alberta, conceived the
idea that. since injection of 'lnsuIin
enables the animal to burn sugar and
store up ElScOSGn, luOSe pIdIiIS anu
lower animals which contain glNco-
gen might also contain this active
principle.
Animal starch,
"Glycogen is animal starch and is
abundant i'll CLANS. oysters. yeast and
mushrooms. He tried clam tissue,
and had no trouble whatever in pre-
pairing an extract which helped rab-
bits and dogs to burn sugar. Yeast
5owever, proved a stumbling block,
He tried over twenty different meth
ods before he found one that would
produce an active extract After
that he could prepare very active ma
3erials at will.
Next he tried green leaves Of let
tuce, beans and wheat, and then the
bulb of an onion. In all cases he
demonstrated the presence Of Il sub
stance which apparently mad all
the properties of 'insuln.' He does
not give it the latter name. however.
but prefers to call it 'glucokinin.
DIR. Collip says that this hormone
will be useful in the treatment "s
ulabetes meflitus In the human sub
ject there can he littlf doubt. .iudg
ing by the results obt4 rcd on dia
hetic animals. it Will lie III som WAY :,
much superior to inSu!in. It's effect
develops slowly and j. long main
tanned The fact that relatively