Treatment of Streptozotocin Diabetes with Di-isopropylammonium Dichloroacetate (DIPA)

Streptozotocin-diabetic rats were treated with di-isopropylammonium dichloroacetate (DIPA) via an orogastric tube in doses of 25 or 50 mg./l kg. twice daily for one week. In nonketotic animals, mean blood glucose concentration decreased significantly during treatment with either DIPA or its acid moiety, sodium dichloroacetate. Neither di-isopropylammonium hydrochloride nor saline reduced hyperglycemia in the diabetic rats. There was no change in the blood glucose of nondiabetic rats in response to DIPA. In ketotic diabetes produced by streptozotocin, 63 per cent of DIPA-treated animals survived after one week, compared to 24 per cent of those given saline. DIPA did not influence glucose absorption in isolated everted jejunal sacs from diabetic and normal rats, while phenformin inhibited transport by more than 50 per cent Thus DIPA, which only partially mimics insulin in its actions and does not stimulate insulin release as do the sulfonylureas, also fails to duplicate the effects of phenformin and appears to have a unique mode of action. DIPA is an effective oral hypoglycemic agent in streptozotocin-diabetic rats.