Effects of oral carbohydrate on autonomic nervous system counterregulatory responses during hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia and euglycemia

Gastric bypass alters both glucose-dependent and glucose-independent regulation of islet hormone secretion

OBJECTIVE

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery (GB) is characterized by accentuated but short-lived postprandial elevations of blood glucose and insulin. This profile has been attributed to effects of relative hyperglycemia to directly stimulate β-cells and an augmented incretin effect. An additional glucose-independent stimulation of insulin secretion in GB subjects was hypothesized.

METHODS

Fifteen subjects with prior GB, six matched obese non surgical controls, and seven lean individuals were recruited. Islet hormones were measured before and after meal ingestion during hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemic clamps to minimize the direct effects of glycemia and glucose-dependent gastrointestinal hormones on insulin secretion.

RESULTS

The GB subjects had less suppression of fasting β-cell secretion during the insulin clamp compared to controls. In addition, meal-induced insulin secretion increased in the GB subjects but not controls during fixed sub-basal glycemia. In contrast, the glucagon responses to hypoglycemia and meal ingestion were lower in the GB subjects than controls.

CONCLUSIONS

Among subjects with GB, the response of insulin and glucagon secretion to decreasing blood glucose is blunted, but meal-induced insulin secretion is stimulated even at fixed systemic sub-basal glycemia. These findings indicate that, following GB, islet hormone secretion is altered as a result of factors beyond circulatory glucose levels.

Effect of insulin-induced hypoglycaemia on the central nervous system: evidence from experimental studies

Insulin-induced hypoglycaemia (IIH) is a major acute complication in type 1 as well as in type 2 diabetes, particularly during intensive insulin therapy. The brain plays a central role in the counter-regulatory response by eliciting parasympathetic and sympathetic hormone responses to restore normoglycaemia. Brain glucose concentrations, being approximately 15-20% of the blood glucose concentration in humans, are rigorously maintained during hypoglycaemia through adaptions such as increased cerebral glucose transport, decreased cerebral glucose utilisation and, possibly, by using central nervous system glycogen as a glucose reserve. However, during sustained hypoglycaemia, the brain cannot maintain a sufficient glucose influx and, as the cerebral hypoglycaemia becomes severe, electroencephalogram changes, oxidative stress and regional neuronal death ensues. With particular focus on evidence from experimental studies on nondiabetic IIH, this review outlines the central mechanisms behind the counter-regulatory response to IIH, as well as cerebral adaption to avoid sequelae of cerebral neuroglycopaenia, including seizures and coma.

The physiology and pathophysiology of the neural control of the counterregulatory response

Despite significant technological and pharmacological advancements, insulin replacement therapy fails to adequately replicate β-cell function, and so glucose control in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) is frequently erratic, leading to periods of hypoglycemia. Moreover, the counterregulatory response (CRR) to falling blood glucose is impaired in diabetes, leading to an increased risk of severe hypoglycemia. It is now clear that the brain plays a significant role in the development of defective glucose counterregulation and impaired hypoglycemia awareness in diabetes. In this review, the basic intracellular glucose-sensing mechanisms are discussed, as well as the neural networks that respond to and coordinate the body's response to a hypoglycemic challenge. Subsequently, we discuss how the body responds to repeated hypoglycemia and how these adaptations may explain, at least in part, the development of impaired glucose counterregulation in diabetes.

Basal alpha-cell up-regulation in obese insulin-resistant adolescents

CONTEXT

The aim of this analysis was to evaluate glucagon and c-peptide concentrations in two scenarios: euglycemic hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycemic hyperinsulinemia. We postulated that worsening obesity and insulin resistance will be reflected as an up-regulated (less suppressible) islet secretion profile.

METHODS

Eighty-two [34 obese with normal glucose tolerance (NGT), 30 obese with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and 18 nonobese with NGT] subjects underwent a euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp (EHC) and a hyperglycemic clamp. C-peptide and glucagon were evaluated at basal and steady-state (SS) conditions.

RESULTS

Basal glucagon was significantly elevated in obese insulin-resistant and obese IGT subjects as was basal c-peptide. SS glucagon and c-peptide levels during the EHC were lower in the lean and obese insulin-sensitive subjects compared with the obese insulin-resistant subjects with NGT or IGT. Fasting glucagon was the only significant determinant (β = 0.66, P < 0.001) of SS glucagon during the EHC (R(2) = 0.57). In a longitudinal follow-up of a subsample, those who converted from normal to IGT significantly increased their fasting glucagon concentration in comparison with those who remained with NGT.

CONCLUSIONS

Islet up-regulation manifesting as basal elevated glucagon and c-peptide secretion that determines the suppressive effects of hyperinsulinemia appears early in the course of deteriorating glucose tolerance.

Portal vein glucose sensors do not play a major role in modulating physiological responses to insulin-induced hypoglycemia in humans

OBJECTIVE

Experimental data from animal studies indicate that portal vein glucose sensors play a key role in the responses to slow-fall hypoglycemia. However, their role in modulating these responses in humans is not well understood. The aim of the present study was to examine in humans the potential role of portal vein glucose sensors in physiological responses to insulin-induced hypoglycemia mimicking the slow fall of insulin-treated diabetic subjects.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Ten nondiabetic subjects were studied on two different occasions during intravenous insulin (2 mU . kg(-1) . min(-1)) plus variable glucose for 160 minutes. In both studies, after 60 min of normal plasma glucose concentrations, hypoglycemia (47 mg/dl) was induced slowly (60 min) and maintained for 60 min. Hypoglycemia was preceded by the ingestion of either oral placebo or glucose (28 g) given at 30 min.

RESULTS

Plasma glucose and insulin were not different with either placebo or glucose (P > 0.2). Similarly, counterregulatory hormones, substrates, and symptoms were not different with either placebo or glucose. The Stroop color and colored words subtest of the Stroop test deteriorated less (P < 0.05) with glucose than placebo.

CONCLUSIONS

In contrast to animals, in humans, prevention of portal hypoglycemia with oral glucose from the beginning of insulin-induced slow-fall hypoglycemia has no effect on sympathoadrenal and symptomatic responses to hypoglycemia.