c-peptide and Constriction--Pathologic

The secretion of hormones stimulating and inhibiting gastric secretory activity was studied in 85 patients with postvagotomy syndromes. The somatropin level was found to increase significantly in gastrostasis. The lower values of the blood insulin and C-peptide content in patients with recurrent ulcers was evidently associated either with insufficiency of the pancreatic insular apparatus or with partial vagal denervation, increased STH level, and plausible inhibiting effect of glucagon. Increased somatostatin secretion in the dumping syndrome, gastrostasis, and peptic ulcers may be due to the encountered hypergastrinemia.

Topics: C-Peptide; Constriction, Pathologic; Diarrhea; Dumping Syndrome; Gastric Acid; Gastrins; Glucagon; Growth Hormone; Humans; Insulin; Insulin Secretion; Neurotransmitter Agents; Peptic Ulcer; Postoperative Complications; Recurrence; Somatostatin; Stomach Diseases; Syndrome; Vagotomy, Proximal Gastric

A boy with the classical clinical manifestations of acquired lipoatrophic diabetes has been studied for 5 years from the onset of diabetes at age 13. At the age of 15 a ventriculo-cisternal shunt operation was performed because of stenosis of the aqueduct of Sylvius, followed by a dramatic improvement in his diabetic state with a decrease of the 24 hr insulin requirement from 130 to 32 units. After 12 months there was a relapse with increased insulin requirement up to the preoperative level. Pimozide treatment was given for 7 months with no effect on the metabolic derangements. Extremely high basal levels of serum C-peptide and pro-insulin were found throughout the period of observation. A further increase occurred after i.v. arginine infusion tests, indicating hyperfunctioning B-cells. Repeated screenings of peptides in the urine by sephadex chromatography revealed pathological patterns similar to those observed in patients with other hypothalamic disorders, but different from that found in the urine of patients with congenital generalized lipodystrophy. Injection into mice of peptides extracted from the preoperative urine produced an acute hyperglycemia. The mechanisms behind this hypothalamic syndrome are unknown, but it is postulated that the abnormal urinary polypeptides originate from disorganized hypothalamic centres and that these peptides may be responsible for the disturbed carbohydrate and lipid metabolism.

Topics: Adolescent; Blood Glucose; C-Peptide; Cerebral Aqueduct; Chromatography, Gel; Constriction, Pathologic; Diabetes Mellitus, Lipoatrophic; Diet, Diabetic; Glucagon; Humans; Immunoglobulin G; Islets of Langerhans; Male; Peptides; Proinsulin

Insulin degradation was measured by the C-peptide/insulin ratio in 19 patients with portal vein block with extensive spontaneous portal-systemic shunting but minimal liver cell damage: 13 patients with biopsy-proved cirrhosis and 12 controls. Blood obtained fasting and for 3 hr after oral glucose was assayed for glucose, insulin, and C-peptide. Fasting C-peptide and insulin levels in patients with portal vein block and those in controls did not differ. Eight of 13 cirrhotic patients had fasting hyperinsulinemia with a significantly reduced C-peptide/insulin ratio. After glucose administration, the C-peptide/insulin ratio in portal vein block patients with normal aspartate transaminase levels did not differ from control values. In portal vein block patients with elevated asparatate transaminase levels, the C-peptide/insulin ratio was significantly reduced only from 60 min onwards. All the cirrhotic patients showed a significantly reduced C-peptide/insulin ratio after glucose administration. It is suggested that portal-systemic shunting of blood in the presence of a normal liver does not influence hepatic insulin metabolism and that the hyperinsulinemia of cirrhosis is a feature of parenchymal liver damage. In addition, insulin degradation was abnormal in all cirrhotic patients at high insulin secretion rates, even when fasting insulin levels were normal.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aspartate Aminotransferases; Blood Glucose; C-Peptide; Constriction, Pathologic; Female; Glucose Tolerance Test; Humans; Insulin; Liver Cirrhosis; Male; Middle Aged; Portal Vein; Thrombosis