The liver-alpha cell axis associates with liver fat and insulin resistance: a validation study in women with non-steatotic liver fat levels

What Was Tested

This observational study looks at Glucagon in the context of insulin resistance, prediabetes & type 2 diabetes.

The concept of a liver-alpha cell axis provides a possible link between hyperglucagonaemia and elevated liver fat content, a typical finding in the metabolic syndrome.

Hence, the researchers searched for a link between the liver and the alpha cells in individuals with non-steatotic levels of liver fat content.

The researchers hypothesised that the glucagon-alanine index, an indicator of the functional integrity of the liver-alpha cell axis, would associate with liver fat and insulin resistance in their cohort of women with low levels of liver fat.

Who Took Part

The study group was 79 individuals.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults, women only.

How the Study Was Run

Liver fat content was determined by MRI.

Insulin resistance was calculated as HOMA-IR.

The researchers conducted Spearman correlation analyses of liver fat content and HOMA-IR with the glucagon-alanine index (the product of fasting plasma levels of glucagon and alanine).

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Adiposity, Alanine, Biomarkers, Blood Chemical Analysis, Cross-Sectional Studies, Glucagon and Glucagon-Secreting Cells.

Author keywords: Alanine/blood, Amino acids/blood, Female, Humans, Insulin resistance and Insulin resistance/physiology.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is an observational study of Glucagon in 79 individuals in people with insulin resistance, prediabetes & type 2 diabetes.

Results are reported in around 6 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2021 (Diabetologia), a journal based in Germany.

More context: the Glucagon compound page, Insulin resistance, prediabetes & type 2 diabetes research.