Glucagon

As Glucagon Options Expand, Lilly Discontinues Emergency Kit

Although Lilly’s Glucagon Emergency Kit was life saving, it requires preparation time and someone to administer the glucagon with a syringe – a potentially daunting task, especially for anyone unfamiliar with the procedure. Since 2019, easier next-generation emergency glucagon therapies have been approved...

A Closer Look at Glucagon

Glucagon is a fascinating hormone with powerful influences on several areas of interest, including types 1 and 2 diabetes, fat loss, appetite regulation and more.

Beta Blocker Toxicity

This is the gold standard at this time, and is the “board answer” to treat beta blocker toxicities. Glucagon acts by directly increasing cardiac inotropy by activating adenyl cyclase by a secondary mechanism separate from that of catecholamines, bypassing beta blockade. It also increases hepatic gluconeogenesis, counteracting the hypoglycemia caused by B2 blockade.

Glucagon

Glucagon is derived from the Greek words gluco (glucose) and agon (agonist). It is a single-chain polypeptide with 29 amino acids, produced in the α-cells of the islets of Langerhans, located in the endocrine portion of the pancreas. This protein is important in the metabolism of carbohydrates. Its function is to increase glycemia by acting as an insulin antagonist.

Glucagon - the rising star in diabetes research (Part 1)

At the very dawn of endocrinology, the idea of a single bihormonal metabolic regulator was first expressed by Lane in 1907. He reported that certain Langerhans islets cells contained alcohol-precipitable granules and named them alpha and beta cells.

Glucagon and Diabetes: Everything You Need to Know

As people with diabetes, we are actually perfectly able to produce glucagon around blood sugars of 65-70 mg/dL. So why do we go low? ⁣ Because insulin inhibits the production of glucagon, as well as its actions on the liver (and vice-versa). In someone who is administering insulin differently (unnaturally) than the beta cells would, the normally functioning insulin-to-glucagon ratio becomes disproportionate. If we give ourselves too much insulin, our pancreas shuts down its glucagon response. ⁣

Glucagon Clinical Pearls

Glucagon can be a lifesaver, literally. Glucagon’s primary use is in the setting of severe hypoglycemia. Glucagon works by increasing cyclic AMP which causes glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis. This ultimately leads to an increase in glucose in the blood and helps manage a hypoglycemic state.

Glucagon Therapy: A Comparison of Current and Novel Treatments

The purpose of this article is to review all available glucagon formulations, discussing the associated literature and possible new directions for the treatment of hypoglycemia.

Glucagon Therapy: A Comparison of Current and Novel Treatments

Two new glucagon formulations offer potentially easier delivery. The purpose of this article is to review all available glucagon formulations, discussing the associated literature and possible new directions for the treatment of hypoglycemia.

Glucagon: Your Friend in Low Places

Having the right tools to manage T1D allows you to take charge of your well-being. Glucagon is like a life raft: you may not use it daily, or even ever, but if there comes a time when you do, you’ll never be without it again.

Glucose 101: How Insulin and Glucagon Work

Glucagon is a catabolic hormone, meaning that it breaks down larger molecules. If blood sugar levels are low, glucagon tells your body to break down glycogen (stored glucose) in the liver to release glucose and increase glucose levels.

Here’s Why Understanding the Role of Glucagon Is Vital for Type II Diabetes.

There is an ongoing debate in medical communities that rather than a low level of insulin, a high level of glucagon might contribute to the development of type II diabetes.

Meet the Glucagon App - A Place to Learn & Prepare

Lilly Glucagon is designed to treat patients with diabetes and severe hypoglycemia.

Pharmacology, part 33: Endocrine Medications - Antidiabetic Agents, Glucagon

Glucagon increases blood sugar in three ways. Glucagon kicks off a pathway called glycogenolysis in which glycogen in the liver is converted into glucose and then released into the bloodstream. The reason food is given after glucagon is so that a patient's body can replenish its glycogen stores. Glucagon stimulates gluconeogenesis, which is production of new glucose. If you break down the word into its medical terminology parts, "Gluco" means relating to glucose, "neo" means new, and "genesis" means formation. Like glycogenolysis (#1), gluconeogenesis (#2) happens primarily in the liver. Glucagon causes adipose tissue to break down fat for use as energy.

Question Tradition: Glucagon for Food Boluses

Clinical Take Home Point: Given the weak evidence for the benefits of glucagon, the potential side effect of nausea/vomiting, and the fact that nearly 1/4th of patients will have an anatomic etiology to their obstruction, avoid the use of glucagon and consult your local gastroenterologist instead.

Too Much Glucagon, Too Little Insulin

Patients with diabetes frequently have a deficient glucagon response to hypoglycemia and exhibit an inappropriately high glucagon response to a meal. This dysregulation has been attributed in part to a lack of intraislet insulin, but the exact pathophysiologic mechanisms remain controversial.

What is Glucagon?

Even though glucagon is made naturally by the body, the hormone is also available as a medication for times when a person’s blood sugar levels drop to a dangerously low level. For people with type 1 diabetes, this medication is a must-have in every emergency kit, according to the American Diabetes Association. Glucagon should be given if your sugar is below 54 and/or you are unable to take in glucose/sugar by yourself.

What to Know About Insulin, Glucagon, and Regulation of Blood Glucose

Glucagon is secreted by the alpha cells of the pancreatic islets in much the same manner as insulin—except in the opposite direction. If blood glucose is high, then no glucagon is secreted. Like insulin, glucagon has an effect on many cells of the body, but most notably the liver.

Glucagon: The Name Says It All, or Not!

As proposed by others, the name glucagon might actually be less appropriate than a name reflecting its central role in amino acid homeostasis, whereas α cells may behave more like amino acid sensors, whose secretory tone is modifiable by glucose concentration.

Diabetes.co.uk

Glucagon plays an active role in allowing the body to regulate the utilisation of glucose and fats. Glucagon is released in response to low blood glucose levels and to events whereby the body needs additional glucose, such as in response to vigorous exercise.

Baqsimi

Be prepared with BAQSIMI. The first and only dry nasal spray to treat very low blood sugar.

Gvoke

Gvoke HypoPen® is a convenient glucagon autoinjector for very low blood sugar.

StatPearls

Glucagon is a medication used to manage and treat hypoglycemia as an antidote to beta-blocker and calcium channel blocker overdose, anaphylaxis refractory to epinephrine, and aid in passing food boluses. It is in the anti-hypoglycemic class of medications.

VIVO Pathophysiology

Glucagon is a linear peptide of 29 amino acids. Its primary sequence is almost perfectly conserved among vertebrates, and it is structurally related to the secretin family of peptide hormones. Glucagon is synthesized as proglucagon and proteolytically processed to yield glucagon within alpha cells of the pancreatic islets.

You and Your Hormones

Glucagon is a hormone that is involved in controlling blood sugar (glucose) levels. It is produced by the alpha cells, found in the islets of Langerhans, in the pancreas, from where it is released into the bloodstream. The glucagon-secreting alpha cells surround the insulin-secreting beta cells, which reflects the close relationship between the two hormones.