The effects of neonatal capsaicin upon selected metabolic and hormonal variables were investigated in hereditarily diabetic Goto-Kakizaki rats. Capsaicin failed to affect significantly the intake of food and fluid, the gain in body weight, the plasma glucose and insulin concentrations, and the insulin content of isolated pancreatic islets. However, the neonatal injection of capsaicin suppressed the stress-induced decrease in plasma insulin/ glucose ratio, and increased in isolated pancreatic islets the secretory responsiveness of the B-cell to D-glucose, but not carbamylcholine. These findings suggest that C-fibres may participate to the perturbation of glucose homeostasis in the diabetic Goto-Kakizaki rats.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe