Glucagon regulates orexin A secretion in humans and rodents

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Glucagon.

Orexin A (OXA) modulates food intake, energy expenditure, and lipid and glucose metabolism.

OXA regulates the secretion of insulin and glucagon, while glucose regulates OXA release.

Here, the researchers evaluate the role of glucagon in regulating OXA release both in vivo and in vitro.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, both men and women.

In a double-blind crossover study, healthy volunteers and type 1 diabetic patients received either intramuscular glucagon or placebo.

Patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes underwent hyperinsulinaemic-euglycaemic clamp experiments, and insulin-hypoglycaemia tests were performed on healthy volunteers.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover.

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

Neither the participants nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Glucagon, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some participants received a placebo instead of Glucagon, giving a reference point.

Each person switched between Glucagon and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

The primary endpoint was a change in OXA levels after intramuscular glucagon or placebo administration in healthy participants and patients with type 1 diabetes.

Secondary endpoints included changes in OXA in healthy participants during insulin tolerance tests and in patients with type 2 diabetes under hyperinsulinaemic-euglycaemic conditions.

Participants and staff conducting examinations and taking measurements were blinded to group assignment.

OXA secretion in response to glucagon treatment was assessed in healthy and obese mice, the streptozotocin-induced mouse model of type 1 diabetes, and isolated rat pancreatic islets.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Adipocytes, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1, Glucagon, Glucose, Healthy Volunteers, Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins and Mice.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Glucagon.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 8 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2014 (Diabetologia), a journal based in Germany.

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