| Abstrakt: |
To characterize the effects of artificial beta-cell directed insulin therapy on carbohydrate, lipid and amino acid metabolism, five insulin-dependent diabetic patients were challenged with a 100-g glucose meal while on conventional (single or split mixed insulin injections) therapy and again after 72 hr on an artificial beta-cell unit. It was verified that the high levels of blood glucose of the conventionally treated diabetics were marked reduced toward normal by the artificial beta-cell therapy, while the blood lactate and pyruvate concentrations increased significantly to levels higher than in normal controls. The elevated levels of FFA, glycerol, and ketones in the diabetics under conventional therapy were entirely normalized during the artificial beta-cell regulation. Furthermore, the artificial beta-cell insulin therapy showed capable to restore the abnormalities in the blood profiles of alanine, glutamine and branched-chain amino acids, exceeding in some points the normal response. It was also detected hyperinsulinemia in the diabetics treated with the artificial beta-cell unit and no change in the pancreatic beta-cell function during this period of regulation, evidenced by low and unchanged blood levels of C-peptide. Marked suppression of pancreatic alpha-cell secretion was detected by the significant decrease of the hyperglucagonemia in the conventionally treated diabetics by the artificial beta-cell therapy. These studies reveal that the artificial beta-cell insulin therapy is capable of restoring to normal not only the abnormal glucose metabolism of conventionally treated diabetics, but also other substrate metabolism related to the lipid and protein homeostasis of the organism.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS) |
