Preventive action of the monoaminooxidase inhibitor, nialamide, on experimental diabetes in rats

Intraperitoneal injection of nialamide in rats submitted to extensive pancreatectomy delays the appearance of diabetes and diminishes its intensity. Whereas in the control group, some of the animals developed diabetes two to three months after surgical extirpation of the pancreas, the nialamide-treated animals presented diabetes only after five or six months. Neoformation of B cells was observed in these animals, but it was not statistically significant.

Protection against development of diabetes has been observed in all animals which were injected with nialamide immediately before or twenty minutes before alloxan administration.

The antitoxic effect of nialamide, which produces a marked decrease in mortality, has been observed.

Protective action on diabetes might be due to a chemical combination of nialamide with alloxan, thus preventing its action or protecting important enzyme centers. Another possibility might be that nialamide increased circulating catecholamines, especially epinephrine and norepinephrine, producing splanchnic vasoconstriction and diminution of alloxan concentration at the pancreatic beta cells, an effect that was eliminated when an adrenolitic agent was given simultaneously.