Plasma glicentin in diabetic and gastrectomized patients.

Recent successful synthesis of human glicentin prompted us to establish an immunoassay method for determination of human glicentin in plasma. Human glicentin in plasma was measured using a newly developed sandwich ELISA. The mean fasting levels of human glicentin were 18.6+/-2.4 and 19.7+/-2.1 pM in normal subjects and diabetic patients, respectively. In diabetic patients with renal failure, plasma glicentin was elevated, exceeding 100 pM. In normal subjects, plasma glicentin increased to a peak level of about 130 pM at 60 min after an oral glucose load, and then decreased. In patients who underwent gastrectomy, plasma glicentin rapidly increased to a peak of about 300 pM at 30 min after oral glucose load. In a patient with short bowel syndrome plasma glicentin did not change following an oral glucose load. These results correspond with previous findings for gut glucagon-like immunoreactive materials (GLI) or enteroglucagon. We conclude that glicentin is secreted from the small intestine in response to intraluminal glucose stimulation in humans.