Summary
Diabetes mellitus is held to be accompanied by inappropriately high levels of plasma glucagon relative to blood glucose concentrations. This has been interpreted as indicating lack of insulin. To establish glucagon release in presence of high levels of endogenous insulin, the effects of both glucose and arginine were studied in the isolated perfused pancreas of genetically diabetic mice (db/db). Stimulation with glucose 2.75 mM or glucose plus arginine 8.25 mM exhibited a pronounced hyperglucagonemia. Following glucose 8.25 mM, however, there was no depression of glucagon secretion. Despite excessive high levels of endogenous insulin, there was a pattern of rather non-suppressible glucagon release. Lack of insulin per se, therefore, is unlikely to be the sole cause of hyperglucagonemia in this type of genetic animal diabetes mellitus.
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Laube, H., Fussgänger, R.D., Maier, V. et al. Hyperglucagonemia of the isolated perfused pancreas of diabetic mice (db/db). Diabetologia 9, 400–402 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01239436
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01239436