Effect of Glucagon on Fasting Insulin Secretion and Glucose Metabolism in Subjects Without Type 2 Diabetes

What Was Tested

This registered not phased trial tested Glucagon.

Fasting hyperglycemia contributes disproportionately to nonenzymatic glycosylation and the microvascular complications of type 2 diabetes.

However, little is known about the regulation of glucose concentrations in the fasting state relative to what is known about the postprandial state.

The proposed experiment is part of a series of experiments designed to establish how glucagon and insulin interact with their receptors to control fasting glucose in health and in prediabetes.

It had two arms (groups): Glucagon Infusion (active comparator) and Glucose Infusion (placebo comparator).

The registry classes the interventions as other.

More on the Plan

The interaction between α-cell and β-cell function to regulate fasting glucose is incompletely understood.

This is an important gap in their knowledge as fasting glucose contributes disproportionately to HbA1c and the microvascular complications of type 2 diabetes (T2DM).

Insulin and glucagon should regulate glucose reciprocally through direct interaction; insulin restrains α-cell secretion while glucagon directly stimulates β-cell secretion.

In addition, there are indirect interactions via changes in glucose.

Who Took Part

60 planned participants were the target.

It was open to people of any sex aged from 25 years up to 65 years.

Healthy volunteers could join, not only people with the condition.

Examples of who could join: Individuals with normal or impaired fasting glucose and normal or impaired glucose tolerance.

The full record lists 1 inclusion and 6 exclusion criteria; among the exclusions: use of any glucose-lowering agents including metformin or sulfonylureas; for female subjects: positive pregnancy test at the time of enrollment or study; history of prior upper abdominal surgery such as adjustable gastric banding, pyloroplasty and vagotomy.

How the Study Was Run

The set-up was non-randomized, sequential and open-label.

Nothing was hidden in this open-label Glucagon study: the participants and staff both knew the treatment.

It started in 2025-04-01 with completion listed for 2027-07-01.

It ran at 1 site in United States.

Its stated primary purpose is basic science.

What Was Measured

Researchers chose this as the main measure: Change in beta-cell responsivity induced by glucagon.

It also tracked 2 secondary outcomes, for example change in endogenous glucose production induced by glucagon and change in glucose disappearance induced by glucagon.

What This Means in Plain Language

Put simply, this is a not phased, non-randomized trial of Glucagon in 60 people.

It is still recruiting; no results are posted to the registry yet, so nothing here describes outcomes.

More context: the Glucagon compound page, all human trials.