18 October, 1998

Today was another lab day for me. The rest of the research group along with a few friendly volunteers went back to Cape Evans to fish. They took the skidoo's and a Sprite (tracked vehicle) this time in hopes that the slower ride home (in the Sprite) would stress the fish less. They had a fairly successful fishing day, and the weather was beautiful. My job today was to bleed the fish that I injected 10 days ago. One group of these fish received a single dose of a drug called Streptozotocin and the other group a double dose. In most mammals, this drug permanently stops the production of insulin by the beta cells in the pancreas. It is unclear if the drug works the same way in fish. Some research has shown that the drug causes a decrease in insulin in fish, but this decrease may not be immediate or permanent. We are using the drug to see if we can reduce the levels of insulin produced by the fish which should change (increase) the blood glucose levels, and then inject insulin isolated from similar fish, to bring the glucose levles back down. I'll check the osmolarity (ion concentration) and blood glucose levels of the blood samples tomorrow. This information will help me plan the timing of the rest of my study.