Counterregulatory hormone release after human and porcine insulin in healthy subjects and patients with pituitary disorders

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Abstract
Human and porcine insulin were administered intravenously to a group of healthy volunteers in two different doses (0.075 IU/kg body weight and 0.12 IU/kg body weight) and to two groups of randomly selected patients with pituitary disorders in a dose adapted to their individual glucose tolerance (0.12–0.17 IU/kg body weight for porcine and 0.15–0.18 IU/kg body weight for human insulin). The blood glucose and potassium lowering effect, the feedback regulation of endogenous insulin release, and the liberation of the counterregulatory hormones glucagon, cortisol, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), prolactin (hPRL), human growth hormone (hGH), and catecholamines were measured before and after injection of human or porcine insulin. The maximal effect, the area under the concentration-time curve, the percentage effect, and the increase above baseline for the two doses of insulin and the two types of insulin were compared. There were no significant differences in the calculated parameters between the two insulin types at the same doses except with prolactin. At 0.075 IU/kg human insulin induced significantly less prolactin release than porcine insulin. Comparing the two doses of the same insulin serum insulin levels, blood glucose, glucagon, norepinephrine, and prolactin were lower at the low dose of each insulin. In addition ACTH and epinephrine were also lower after human insulin at 0.075 IU/kg. The subjective signs of hypoglycemia were less pronounced after human insulin. It is concluded that the biological effects of human insulin are comparable to porcine insulin although prolactin release is significantly reduced after human insulin. If this difference is an indication of different receptor sensitivities for human and porcine insulin in the central nervous system and if the diminished signs of hypoglycemia are a consequence of this, then further studies are required.