Fatty acids and the release of glucagon from isolated guinea-pig islets of Langerhans incubated in vitro

Effects of glucagon on lipolysis and ketogenesis in normal and diabetic men

The effect of glucagon (50 ng/kg/min) on arterial glycerol concentration and net splanchnic production of total ketones and glucose was studied after an overnight fast in four normal and five insulin-dependent diabetic men. Brachial artery and hepatic vein catheters were inserted and splanchnic blood flow determined using indocyanine green. The glucagon infusion resulted in a mean circulating plasma level of 4,420 pg/ml. In the normal subjects, the glucagon infusion resulted in stimulation of insulin secretion indicated by rising levels of immunoreactive insulin and C-peptide immunoreactivity. Arterial glycerol concentration (an index of lipolysis) declined markedly and net splanchnic total ketone production was virtually abolished. In contrast, the diabetic subjects secreted no insulin (no rise in C-peptide immunoreactivity) in response to glucagon. Arterial glycerol and net splanchnic total ketone production in these subjects rose significantly (P=<0.05) when compared with the results in four diabetics who received a saline infusion after undergoing the same catheterization procedure.Net splanchnic glucose production rose markedly during glucagon stimulation in the normals and diabetics despite the marked rise in insulin in the normals. Thus, the same level of circulating insulin which markedly suppressed lipolysis and ketogenesis in the normals failed to inhibit the glucagon-mediated increase in net splanchnic glucose production. It is concluded (a) that glucagon at high concentration is capable of stimulating lipolysis and ketogenesis in insulin-deficient diabetic man; (b) that insulin, mole for mole, has more antilipolytic activity in man than glucagon has lipolytic activity; and (c) that glucagon, on a molar basis, has greater stimulatory activity than insulin has inhibitory activity on hepatic glucose release.

The effect of experimental insulin deficiency on glucagon secretion

Suppression of pancreatic glucagon secretion by hyperglycemia is a characteristic of normal alpha cell function. However, in diabetic subjects, plasma glucagon is normal or high despite hyperglycemia. It seemed possible that the presence of glucose or its metabolites within the alpha cell might be essential for suppression of glucagon secretion, and that in diabetes an intracellular deficiency of glucose secondary to insulin lack might be responsible for the nonsuppressibility. The present study was designed to determine the effect upon glucagon secretion of blockade of glucose metabolism and of experimental insulin deficiency. Blockade of glucose metabolism was induced in dogs by administration of 2-deoxyglucose or mannoheptulose. A striking rise in glucagon was observed despite accompanying hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia, which, in the case of mannoheptulose, was induced by infusing crystalline insulin. To determine if insulin lack also causes paradoxical hyperglucagonemia, dogs were made severely diabetic by alloxan. Fasting glucagon levels ranged from 3 to 22 times normal despite severe hyperglycemia, and were quickly restored to normal by infusing insulin. Diabetes induced in rats by anti-insulin serum was also associated with significant elevation in plasma glucagon. However, diazoxide-induced insulin lack did not increase glucagon in dogs. It is concluded that normal suppression of glucagon secretion by hyperglycemia does not occur when glucose metabolism is blocked or when severe insulin deficiency is produced. It is suggested that normal glucose metabolism within the alpha cell may be an insulin-requiring process without which hyperglycemic suppression of glucagon release cannot occur.