Using glucagon receptor antagonism to evaluate the physiological effects of extrapancreatic glucagon in totally pancreatectomised individuals: a randomised controlled trial

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Glucagon in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Previous studies have indicated that 29-amino-acid glucagon (i.e. 'pancreatic' glucagon) circulates in totally pancreatectomised individuals and that a postprandial glucagon response can be detected.

Using a glucagon receptor antagonist (GRA), the researchers investigated the possible role of extrapancreatic glucagon on glucose, lipid and amino acid metabolism in totally pancreatectomised individuals.

Who Took Part

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

The experiment was double-masked (i.e. both participants and investigator were masked for the type of the experimental day [day A vs day B]).

Key inclusion criteria for the pancreatectomised individuals were age >18 years, haemoglobin in the normal range and informed consent.

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.

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.

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

The primary endpoint was the difference in plasma glucose excursions between study days.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Glucagon, Receptors, Glucagon, Blood Glucose, Pancreatectomy and Glucose Tolerance Test.

Author keywords: Glucagon receptor antagonist, LY2409021, Postprandial glucose excursions and Total pancreatectomy.

What This Means in Plain Language

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

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 2025 (Diabetologia), a journal based in Germany.

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