alpha-Glucosidase inhibition (acarbose) fails to enhance secretion of glucagon-like peptide 1 (7-36 amide) and to delay gastric emptying in Type 2 diabetic patients

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Glucagon.

Acarbose is able to enhance GLP-1 release and delay gastric emptying in normal subjects.

The effect of alpha-glucosidase inhibition on GLP-1 has been less evident in Type 2 diabetic patients.

The aim of this study was to investigate the possible influence of acarbose on GLP-1 release and gastric emptying in Type 2 diabetic patients after a mixed test meal.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 2 patients were involved.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were middle-aged adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized and placebo-controlled study.

The patients were allocated by chance, so the Glucagon group and the comparison group should start out alike.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Glucagon group a baseline to be compared against.

Plasma concentrations of glucose, insulin, C-peptide, glucagon, GLP-1 and GIP were determined over 6 h.

Gastric emptying was measured by determining breath 13CO2 using infrared absorptiometry.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Acarbose, Blood Glucose, C-Peptide, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Enzyme Inhibitors, Gastric Emptying and Gastric Inhibitory Polypeptide.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and placebo-controlled study of Glucagon in 2 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 6 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2005 (Diabetic medicine : a journal of the British Diabetic Association), a journal based in England.

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