Prolonged and enhanced secretion of glucagon-like peptide 1 (7-36 amide) after oral sucrose due to alpha-glucosidase inhibition (acarbose) in Type 2 diabetic patients

What Was Tested

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

GLP-1, an incretin hormone of the enteroinsular axis with insulinotropic and glucagonostatic activity, is secreted after nutrient ingestion.

GLP-1 is mainly produced by intestinal L-cells in the lower gastrointestinal tract (GIT); simple carbohydrates are absorbed in the upper GIT and alpha-glucosidase inhibition leads to augmented and prolonged GLP-1 release in normal subjects.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

Differences in the integrated responses over the observation period were evaluated by repeated measurement analysis of variance with fasting values used as covariates.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

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

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.

Plasma levels of GLP-1, insulin, C-peptide, glugacon, GIP, glucose and H2-exhalation were measured over 6 h.

What Was Measured

GLP-1 is mainly produced by intestinal L-cells in the lower gastrointestinal tract (GIT); simple carbohydrates are absorbed in the upper GIT and alpha-glucosidase inhibition leads to augmented and prolonged GLP-1 release in normal subjects.

The subject headings attached to it are Acarbose, Blood Glucose, C-Peptide, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Enzyme Inhibitors, Gastric Inhibitory Polypeptide and Gastrointestinal Hormones.

What This Means in Plain Language

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

The publication is from 1998 (Diabetic medicine : a journal of the British Diabetic Association), a journal based in England.

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