Summary
Insulin 0.05 μ/kg body weight was injected intravenously into 14 subjects both at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. in random order 12 hrs after a 50 g glucose meal. Fasting glucose levels were similar in both cases but the 48%±10% fall in blood glucose in the morning was significantly greater (p<0.001) than that of 34%±7% in the afternoon. Fasting plasma NEFA, however, varied markedly between 477±150 μEqlL in the morning and 725±195 μEqlL in the afternoon (p<0.001) and the fall after insulin injection (64%±14%) was greater in the afternoon than in the morning (47%±15%) (p<0.001). There was an inverse relationship between proportional glucose disappearance and proportional NEFA disappearance (p<0.01). The calculated caloric change in the plasma, the sum of the falls in glucose and NEFA, were very similar in both morning (2.2±0.5 Cals/l) and afternoon (2.3±0.5 Cals/l), i.e., in spite of the variations of glucose and NEFA metabolism produced by insulin at different times, the nett effect, in terms of energy, was the same. Plasma growth hormone response in the afternoon was found to be enhanced compared with the morning values, although the degree of hypoglycaemia was greater in the morning.
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Gibson, T., Stimmler, L., Jarrett, R.J. et al. Diurnal variation in the effects of insulin on blood glucose, plasma non-esterified fatty acids and growth hormone. Diabetologia 11, 83–88 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00422823
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00422823