Differential effects of chemical and physical restraint on carbohydrate tolerance testing in nonhuman primates.

Ketamine hydrochloride, used during glucose or lactose tolerance tests to aid restraint of rhesus and stumptail macaques unconditioned to handling, prevented the establishment of definitive baseline plasma glucose tolerance curves from which meaningful interpretations could be derived. Repetition of the tests after the animals were restraint-chair conditioned provided clear baseline control data. It is suggested that ketamine might invalidate those carbohydrate tolerance tests which are based on the absorption of glucose from the gastrointestinal tract.