CiteULike is a free online bibliography manager. Register and you can start organising your references online.

Autonomic mediation of glucagon secretion during hypoglycemia: implications for impaired alpha-cell responses in type 1 diabetes. Export

Diabetes, Vol. 47, No. 7. (July 1998), pp. 995-1005.

Citation Format

[Posts]

View FullText article


X Reviews [Write a review of this article]

X Find related articles from these CiteULike users

X Find related articles with these CiteULike tags

X Posting History

X Abstract

This article examines the role of the autonomic nervous system in mediating the increase of glucagon secretion observed during insulin-induced hypoglycemia (IIH). In the first section, we briefly review the importance of the alpha-cell response in recovery from hypoglycemia under both physiologic conditions and pathophysiologic conditions, such as type 1 diabetes. We outline three possible mechanisms that may contribute to increased glucagon secretion during hypoglycemia but emphasize autonomic mediation. In the second section, we review the critical experimental data in animals, nonhuman primates, and humans suggesting that, in the absence of diabetes, the majority of the glucagon response to IIH is mediated by redundant autonomic stimulation of the islet alpha-cell. Because the glucagon response to hypoglycemia is often impaired in patients with type 1 diabetes, in the third section, we examine the possibility that autonomic impairment contributes to the impairment of the glucagon response in these patients. We review two different types of autonomic impairment. The first is a slow-onset and progressive neuropathy that worsens with duration of diabetes, and the second is a rapid-onset, but reversible, autonomic dysfunction that is acutely induced by antecedent hypoglycemia. We propose that both types of autonomic dysfunction can contribute to the impaired glucagon responses in patients with type 1 diabetes. In the fourth section, we relate restoration of these glucagon responses to restoration of the autonomic responses to hypoglycemia. Finally, in the fifth section, we summarize the concepts underlying the autonomic hypothesis, the evidence for it, and the implications of the autonomic hypothesis for the treatment of type 1 diabetes.


X BibTeX record

X RIS record


Privacy Statement | Terms & Conditions
CiteULike organises scholarly (or academic) papers or literature and provides bibliographic (which means it makes bibliographies) for universities and higher education establishments. It helps undergraduates and postgraduates. People studying for PhDs or in postdoctoral (postdoc) positions. The service is similar in scope to EndNote or RefWorks or any other reference manager like BibTeX, but it is a social bookmarking service for scientists and humanities researchers.