J. Vet. Med. A 46, 473–481 (1999) © 1999 Blackwell Wissenschafts-Verlag, Berlin ISSN 0931–184X Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry of Nutrition, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt Response of One-Humped Camel (Camelus dromedarius) to Intravenous Glucagon Injection and to Infusion of Glucose and Volatile Fatty Acids, and the Kinetics of Glucagon Disappearance from the Blood M. ABDEL-FATTAH 1,3 , H. AMER 1 , M. A. GHONEIM 1 M. WARDA 1 and Y. MEGAHED 2 Addresses of authors: 1 Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry of Nutrition, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Giza 12211, Egypt; 2 Radiobiochemistry, Atomic Energy Authority, Eldokki, Giza, Egypt; 3 Corresponding author: Fax. 00202 5725240 With 4 figures and 1 table (Received for publication October 13, 1998) Summary The effects of glucagon injection and infusion of glucose and volatile fatty acids were studied in one- humped camels. Twenty adult male camels were divided into four equal groups. The first group was infused with physiological saline and served as a control. The second group was injected with a single dose of glucagon, the third group was infused with glucose (50 %) in sterile saline, and the fourth group was infused with a volatile fatty acid (VFA) mixture. In the first, third and fourth groups, sampling was performed before the beginning of infusions (control time), and at 15, 30, 60 and 120 min post-infusion. Plasma glucagon concentrations were monitored in the second group at 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45, 90, 105 and 120 min after injection. For glucagon injection, glucose concentration peaked at 15 min post-injection, and tended to decrease thereafter. Plasma glucose concentrations showed significant rises above the basal value at all times after glucose infusion. VFA infusion had no apparent effect on plasma glucose concentration. After injection of glucagon, the plasma lactate concentration dropped significantly at 15 and 30 min, then increased gradually until it reached the original concentration of lactate at 120 min. However, glucose infusion elevated the plasma lactate concentration only at the end of the infusion period. A decrease in plasma lactate was observed at 60 min after VFA infusion. The present investigation provides evidence that the glucagon level in camels is higher than that in other ruminants and in man, and suggests that this is a probable species specificity, which would explain the higher level of glucose in the blood of camels than in that of other ruminants. The disappearance curve of injected glucagon had, as in other ruminants, an exponential two-compartment function. The hormone was rapidly distributed and was eliminated with a high rate of clearance. Introduction The camel is a unique, remarkable member of the family Camelidae. It is one of the domestic ungulate species of great economic importance to the pastoral nomadic communities that inhabit hot arid areas of the Middle East. Apart from providing milk, meat, hides and other animal by-products, the camel has also been bred for centuries as a pack and draught animal. It has the ability to survive in habitats where other ruminants have failed to do so (Chandrasena et al., 1979a). This ability may be due to differences in certain metabolic processes involving glucose, ketone bodies (Chandrasena et al., 1979a,b) and possibly urea nitrogen recycling U.S. Copyright Clearance Center Code Statement: 0931-184X/99/4608-0473 $14.00/0