Effects of C-peptide on insulin-induced hypoglycaemia and its counterregulatory responses in IDDM patients
✍ Scribed by Oskarsson, P.; Johansson, B-L.; Adamson, U.; Lins, P-E.
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 141 KB
- Volume
- 14
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0742-3071
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✦ Synopsis
Recent studies indicate that C-peptide, when given to patients with insulin-dependent (Type 1) diabetes mellitus (IDDM), exerts significant effects on microvascular and neuronal functions. Adjuvant therapy with C-peptide has been advocated in the treatment of IDDM patients. Since endogenous insulin secretion is believed to be of importance for the alphacell function, we addressed the issue whether C-peptide given acutely interferes with the responses to hypoglycaemia. Seven IDDM patients were randomly exposed to hypoglycaemia with and without exogenous C-peptide. Insulin and and C-peptide were given intravenously in equimolar amounts for 3 hours. The decrease of blood glucose was faster and more pronounced during C-peptide infusion, yielding a significantly lower AUC 0-180 min of blood glucose (38.5 ± 1.6 vs 44.4 ± 2.2 mmol l -1 h -1 ; p = 0.032). No difference between the two experiments was found concerning glucagon when the AUC, ⌬-values or levels at separate points of time were calculated. In conclusion, the main finding of this study was that exogenous C-peptide, given acutely, gave rise to a more rapid onset of hypoglycaemia yielding no detectable differences with respect to the response of glucagon and other counterregulatory hormones.