Responses to acute insulin-induced hypoglycaemia in diabetic patients: a comparison of short-acting human and porcine insulins.

A comparison was made of the metabolic, hormonal, haemodynamic and symptomatic responses to acute hypoglycaemia induced by short-acting porcine and human insulins in 16 fasting, insulin-dependent diabetic patients, 8 of whom had diabetes for less than 5 years (Group A) and 8 of whom had diabetes for greater than 15 years (Group B). Each patient received an intravenous injection of 0.2 units/kg of insulin on two separate occasions. No differences were found between the groups in the rate of fall of blood glucose or the blood glucose nadir with either insulin, but in Group B, glucose recovery was more rapid after human insulin (p less than 0.01). No differences in the responses of blood lactate, plasma free fatty acids, glucagon or prolactin were observed between the groups. In Group B the rises of growth hormone and cortisol occurred more rapidly following human insulin (p less than 0.01), while the rise in adrenaline was greater following porcine insulin. Haemodynamic changes were identical following each species of insulin in both diabetic groups. A questionnaire was used to score 18 symptoms of hypoglycaemia on a 7 point scale. No significant differences were found in the mean scores of each symptom of hypoglycaemia or in the total symptom score. Thus recovery of blood glucose from hypoglycaemia was slightly more rapid after administration of human insulin to diabetic patients of long duration, but it is unlikely that these marginal differences would confer any clinical advantage in this subgroup.