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Horm Metab Res 1981; 13(4): 203-206
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-1019221
© Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart · New York

Immunoreactive Glucagon in Nondiabetic and Diabetic Macaca Nigra

C. F. Howard Jr. , Antonia Van Bueren
  • Department of Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases, Oregon Regional Primate Research Center, Beaverton, Oregon, U.S.A.
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Publication History

1980

1980

Publication Date:
23 April 2008 (online)

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Summary

The primary form of immunoreactive glucagon (IRG) in Macaca nigra has been identified as pancreatic, alpha-cell-size glucagon (IRG3500), with a molecular weight of about 3500. Assays with 30K and K-964 glucagon antibodies gave virtually identical results. Column chromatography of plasma on Bio-Gel P-30 indicated only minimal amounts of high-molecular-weight IRG. Levels of IRG decrease during a glucose infusion, a response expected of IRG3500.

IRG concentrations apparently greater than human values appear to be characteristic of nonhuman primates. Nondiabetic Macaca nigra average 641 pg of IRG3500/ml. Border-line diabetic monkeys with moderately increased glucose and impaired glucose clearance average 2,938 pg/ml. Diabetic monkeys with hyperglycemia and diminished glucose clearance have 375 pg of IRG3500/ml. Changes in IRG3500 are related to a lesion in the islets of Langerhans.

Key-Words:

Immunoreactive Glucagon - Macaca Nigra - Diabetes