Effect of chenodeoxycholic acid and the bile acid sequestrant colesevelam on glucagon-like peptide-1 secretion.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Glucagon, published as a randomized controlled trial.

To evaluate the effects of the primary human bile acid, chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), and the bile acid sequestrant (BAS) colesevelam, instilled into the stomach, on plasma levels of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide, glucose, insulin, C-peptide, glucagon, cholecystokinin and gastrin, as well as on gastric emptying, gallbladder volume, appetite and food intake.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 10 subjects were involved.

PubMed indexes the participants as middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

On four separate days, nine patients with type 2 diabetes, and 10 matched healthy control subjects received bolus instillations of (i) CDCA, (ii) colesevelam, (iii) CDCA + colesevelam or (iv) placebo.

How the Study Was Run

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

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Glucagon and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

As a double-blind Glucagon study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

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

At baseline and for 180 min after instillation, blood was sampled.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Bile Acids and Salts, Blood Glucose, C-Peptide, Chenodeoxycholic Acid, Colesevelam Hydrochloride, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 and Gastric Emptying.

Author keywords: GLP-1, antidiabetic drug, drug development, glucose metabolism and type 2 diabetes.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Glucagon in 10 subjects.

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.

Its findings take up roughly 7 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2016 (Diabetes, obesity & metabolism), a journal based in England.

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