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Plasma Glucagon and Insulin Concentrations in Acromegaly

Sir George E. Clark, Metabolic Unit, Royal Victoria Hospital, and the Departmentof Medicine, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland

Sixteen patients with clinically active acromegaly were investigated; four of these had insulin-independent diabetes mellitus.

Those acromegalic subjects who were not diabetic exhibited excessive insulin responses to glucose and arginine stimulation. By contrast, plasma glucagon concentrations in these patients did notdiffer significantly from those in control subjects.

Acromegalic patients who also had insulin-independent diabetes had a markedly reduced insulin response to glucose stimulation, while arginine-induced insulin secretion was relatively well preserved. Although there was a tendency for plasma glucagon concentrations to be higher in the diabetic than in the nondiabetic group of acromegalic subjects, this difference did not achieve statistical significance either in the basal state or during the glucose tolerance and arginine infusion tests.

^* Present address to which reprint requests should be sent: Dr. E. R. Trimble, Institut de Biochimie Clinique, University of Geneva, Sentier de la Roseraie, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.

Received October 2, 1979.

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