Three days after a single injection of streptozotocin rats showed hyperglycemia, hyperketonemia and hypoinsulinemia. Body and liver weights were reduced and the concentration of DNA-P, phospholipid-P, proteins and acetyl-CoA in the liver was augmented, while the concentration of glycogen and citric acid in these animals compared with the controls which did not receive the drug was decreased. After 48 h starvation, blood glucose remained higher in the streptozotocin-treated animals, while circulating ketones and insulin were not different from those in the controls. With the exception of body and liver weights, which were lower, and of liver DNA-P, which was higher than when fed, neither of the other parameters studied in the s:reptozotocin treated animals changed with fasting, while the response in the c0ntrols was normal; The incapacity of increasing the postprandial insulin secretion in these animals may contribute to the metabolic alterations found in the fed state.