A single intraperitoneal injection of Bordetella pertussis vaccine to rats or mice causes a prolonged increase in immunoassayable plasma insulin levels. This hyperinsulinism occurs in rats in the presence of only slightly depressed plasma glucose and normal free fatty acid (FFA) levels. When the fat pad from a pertussis sensitized (PS) rat is incubated in vitro, a significantly larger amount of FFA is found in the medium than is found when normal fat pads are incubated under the same condition. The action of a variety of antilipolytic agents was studied with respect to catecholamine induced FFA mobilization from normal fat pads and FFA mobilization from PS fat pads and it is concluded that the mechanism of PS mobilization differs from that of catecholamine induced FFA mobilization. The elevated immunoassayable insulin appears to be pancreatic in origin since treatment with alloxan inhibits and/or reverses its occurrence. The production of increased plasma insulin levels appears dependent on the presence of the adrenals but not the pituitary. However, both the pituitary and adrenals may provide counter-regulatory mechanisms for survival. Administration of epinephrine to these animals causes an increase in plasma insulin levels, not a decrease. The relationship of this finding to the phenomenon of the attenuation of epinephrine-induced hyperglycemia which is observed in these PS animals is discussed. The mechanism by which pertussis increases basal plasma insulin levels and promotes a reversal of the normally inhibitory effect of epinephrine on plasma insulin levels is not presently understood. (Endocrinology83: 885, 1968)
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Gulbenkian et al. (1968) studied this question.