Glucagon in the treatment of acute asthma in children

Glucagon has a bronchodilator effect by stimulating cyclic AMP production t hrough activation of its own receptor. The purpose of this study was to det ermine if bronchodilation can be induced by glucagon in acute asthma in chi ldren. Twenty patients with acute asthma (mean age 9.9 +/- 2.1 years) were treated with 1 mg of subcutaneous glucagon, and 20 patients with acute asth ma (mean age 10.7 +/- 2.1 years) received 400 mu g of metered-dose salbutam ol. Respiratory function tests were performed (FVC, FEV1, PEFR, FEF25-75) b efore treatment and 30 and 120 min after treatment. The test results were c ompared with the basal values within each group and between the two groups. When the 30-min and 120-min posttreatment respiratory function test values were compared with the basal values, a significant improvement was found i n the glucagon and salbutamol groups (p < 0.05). When the 0-, 30-, and 120- min values of the glucagon group were compared with those of the salbutamol group, there was no significant difference (p > 0.05 for each). Subcutaneo us glucagon treatment may be an alternative to metered-dose inhaler salbuta mol as a bronchodilator in the treatment of acute asthma in children.