Abstract
Glucagon levels were assayed with a guinea pig antisea which cross reacts minimally with an extract of dog gut. Column chromatography of pools of plasma revealed three peaks. peak I, which behaved like gut reacting glucagon-like activity accounted for less than 20% of glucagon-like activity in the fating and post-arginine infusion pools. Peak II is the major peak and behaves like pancreatic glucagon on dilution. Peak III reveals minor differences on dilutional studies. With this antisera, the mean level in normal fasting prepubertal children was 669 ± 62 pg/ml and in fasting adolescent diabetic children in good control 333 ± 46 pg/ml. following intravenous arginine infusion a 2 fold or greater rise was seen in glucagon-like activity ub 5 children without abnormalities in carbohydrate tolerance, 5 newly diagnosed diabetics, in 5 children with asymptomatic hyperglycemia, in 5 children with small stature secondary to intrauterine growth retardation, and in I child with growth hormone deficiency. Two children treated with chlorpropamide for I year for diabetes insipidus also had normal rises despite impaired insulin release. Values for glucagon-like activity were elevated in cord blood (mean 1288 ± 146 pg/ml) and in plasma from normal newborn infants before feeding (mean 1412 ± 55 pg/ml). Three of five infants of diabetic mothers and three of six infants with blood group incompatibility had levels greater than 2000 pg/ml.
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Murthy, D., Colle, E. Immunossay of glucagon-like activity in infants and children. Pediatr Res 5, 397 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197108000-00109
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197108000-00109