Behavior of pancreatic glucagon,insulin, and HGH in liver cirrhosis,after arginine and i.v. glucose

Summary The authors studied the behavior of plasma levels of glucagon, HGH and insulin in a group of cirrhotic patients both in basal conditions and after i.v. arginine and glucose in order to assess their respective importance in the pathogenesis of carbohydrate disorders. After i.v. arginine an increased plasma concentration of pancreatic glucagon was found which reached its highest level at 15 min; i.e. glucose did not suppress the increased plasma glucagon levels. Plasma HGH which is consistently increased is not influenced by i.v. glucose. Plasma insulin was consistently raised during both tests; however, the insulinogenic index after i.v. glucose behaved like that of mild diabetics. The true importance of glucagon in the pathogenesis of carbohydrate intolerance in cirrhotics cannot as yet be determined with certainty; according to the authors, hyperglucagonemia is not the primary factor but only one of the main causes of this intolerance.