Studies of pancreatic alpha cell function in normal and diabetic subjects

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Abstract

The development of a glucagon radioimmunoassay with a relatively high degree of specificity for pancreatic glucagon made possible studies of alpha cell function in healthy nondiabetic subjects and in patients with diabetes mellitus. In the former group mean fasting plasma glucagon averaged 108 μμg/ml (SEM ±10). In 12 juvenile-type diabetics fasting glucagon averaged 110 (±9) and in 33 adult-type diabetics the average was 114 (±8). The diabetic averages did not differ significantly from the nondiabetic subjects; however, when hyperglycemia was induced by glucose infusion in the nondiabetic subjects so as to simulate the fasting hyperglycemia of the diabetics, mean glucagon fell to 57 μμg (±8), which was significantly below the diabetic mean.

Authors

Roger H. Unger, E. Aguilar-Parada, Walter A. Müller, Anna M. Eisentraut