Apelin administration improves insulin sensitivity in overweight men during hyperinsulinaemic-euglycaemic clamp

What Was Tested

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

This study was dedicated to the proof of concept that apelin administration also enhances insulin sensitivity in humans.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are teenagers, young adults and adults, men only.

Each volunteer underwent 2 hyperinsulinaemic-euglycaemic clamps where the basal level of glucose infusion rate (GIR) was measured from the 90th to the 120th minute (level 1).

How the Study Was Run

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

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

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

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

In the crossover set-up each of the participants took both Apelin and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

Continuous intravenous administration of apelin or placebo was ongoing for 2 hours and GIR was finally evaluated from the 210th to the 240th minute (level 2).

Primary evaluation endpoint was the difference in GIR between level 2 and level 1 (ΔGIR).

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Anti-Obesity Agents, Apelin, Apelin Receptors, Body Mass Index, Glucose Clamp Technique, Hypoglycemic Agents and Insulin Resistance.

Author keywords: adipokine, apelin/APJ system, hyperinsulinaemic-euglycaemic clamp and type 2 diabetes.

What This Means in Plain Language

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

Results are reported in around 3 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2018 (Diabetes, obesity & metabolism), a journal based in England.

More context: the Apelin compound page.