Human insulin induces a higher glucagon response to induced hypoglycemia in short normal children, compared to porcine insulin

After transfer of diabetic patients from porcine to human insulin, many rep orts emerged supporting an increased hypoglycemia unawareness. Several stud ies were then undertaken in both diabetic and healthy adults to investigate counterregulatory hormone responses to both porcine and human insulin-indu ced hypoglycemia as a possible underlying cause for this different hypoglyc emia awareness. Most studies demonstrated similar neuroendocrine responses to both insulin species in adults. However, no such studies have ever been performed in healthy children. We undertook a double-blinded study of count erregulatory hormone responses to both porcine and human insulin-induced hy poglycemia in 17 short normal children randomly assigned to two groups, one receiving human and the other porcine insulin. We found similar responses of growth hormone, cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine to bo th porcine insulin- and human insulin- induced hypoglycemia, Interestingly, we observed a significantly higher glucagon secretion when hypoglycemia wa s induced by human insulin. In conclusion, human insulin induces a higher glucagon secretion in healthy children than porcine insulin. Evidently, this observation cannot be extra polated to diabetic patients. This study, however, further underlines the i mportance of performing investigations in children, since results found in adults differ from those observed in children.