Glucagon-like peptide-1 (7-37) augments insulin-mediated glucose uptake in elderly patients with diabetes

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Glucagon.

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is an intestinal insulinotropic hormone that augments glucose-induced insulin secretion in patients with type 2 diabetes.

It has also been proposed that a substantial component of the glucose-lowering effects of GLP-1 occurs because this hormone enhances insulin-mediated glucose disposal.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 8 patients taking part.

The age groups tagged for this paper are older adults.

Studies were conducted on 8 elderly patients with type 2 diabetes (age range, 76 +/- 1 years; body mass index, 28 +/- 1 kg/m(2)).

Each subject underwent two 180-minute euglycemic (insulin infusion rate, 40 mU/m(2)/min) insulin clamps in random order.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized study.

Because people in this Glucagon study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Glucose production (Ra) and disposal (Rd) rates were measured using tritiated glucose methodology.

In one study, glucose and insulin alone were infused.

What Was Measured

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is an intestinal insulinotropic hormone that augments glucose-induced insulin secretion in patients with type 2 diabetes.

The subject headings attached to it are Biological Transport, Active, Blood Glucose, C-Peptide, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Glucagon, Glucagon-Like Peptide 1 and Glucagon-Like Peptides.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Glucagon in 8 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 7 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2001 (The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences), a journal based in United States.

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