Effect of Glucagon on Fasting Insulin Secretion and Glucose Metabolism in Subjects Without Type 2 Diabetes

The interaction between α-cell and β-cell function to regulate fasting glucose is incompletely understood. This is an important gap in our knowledge as fasting glucose contributes disproportionately to HbA1c and the microvascular complications of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). The regulation of fasting glucose in health and disease is relatively understudied.

Insulin and glucagon should regulate glucose reciprocally through direct interaction; insulin restrains α-cell secretion while glucagon directly stimulates β-cell secretion. In addition, there are indirect interactions via changes in glucose. Glucagon increases endogenous glucose production (EGP) increasing glucose (and insulin secretion). Conversely, insulin stimulates glucose disappearance (Rd) and suppresses EGP, lowering glucose (and stimulating glucagon).

However, this does not appear to occur uniformly in prediabetes. For example, in impaired fasting glucose (IFG), glucagon secretion rate (GSR) is inappropriate for the prevailing glucose. This is not accompanied by reciprocal changes in insulin secretion rate (ISR). Variability in the hepatic response to glucagon and to insulin further compound the dysregulation of fasting glucose. The net effect of these variables is unknown. This experiment is intended to test the hypothesis that impaired glucagon-induced insulin secretion contributes to fasting hyperglycemia in IFG.

Inclusion criteria

• Individuals with normal or impaired fasting glucose and normal or impaired glucose tolerance

Exclusion criteria

• HbA1c less than 6.5%
• Use of any glucose-lowering agents including metformin or sulfonylureas.
• For female subjects: positive pregnancy test at the time of enrollment or study
• History of prior upper abdominal surgery such as adjustable gastric banding, pyloroplasty and vagotomy.
• Active systemic illness or malignancy.
• Symptomatic macrovascular or microvascular disease.