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| Categories: Additional article for Therapies |
| Additional article for Therapies | |
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Some facts about insulin in general
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On this page a few general facts about insulin are provided.
Insulin chemically consists of two with each other connected peptide chains, the A-chain with 21 and the B-chain with 30 together combined amino acids. The insulin from humans, from cows and from pigs differ only slightly in their amino acid sequence, that is why there biological effectiveness is largely identical. The adjustment of the insulin preparations is under governmental control. Thus also for mixed insulin that are between basal insulin and quickly effective bolus insulin. The percentage of the quickly effective insulin is always put in front (example 20/80, 30/70, 50/50). After the injection of normal insulin into the subcutis fatty tissue, six insulin elements, also called hexameter, are stored together. This “hexamerism” and the followed decay of the six elements refer, due to their course of time, to the splash- eating distance of the humane insulin. The quickly effective insulin analoga (see five questions to the insulin analoga which are on the market) and its building up of the amino acid chains have been changed in so far that it will no longer come to a combined storage or to a hexamerism. At humalog© in the B-chain of the amino acid proline and lysine have been exchanged and at Novo Rapid© the amino acid praline has been substituted with asparagines acid. Thus the medical name: aspart. At the insulin glulisine (Apidra ©) the fast entry of action and shorter time of action, results from a replacement of the amino acid asparagine in position B3 through lysine and a further exchange of lysine at position B29 through glutamic acid. Due to the increased appearance of insulin monomers instead of – dimerics the absorption from the subcutaneous tissue is being favoured. Through these chemic changes one gets different study results, concerning for example effectiveness or toleration, for various insulin analoga. Regarding for example tolerance (frequency of unwanted occurrences), the insulin glulisine was ranked 5, 5% poorer than the insulin lispro.
Insulin is decomposed in the blood very quickly in the liver and in the kidney; its half-live period is less than 10 minutes. It must constantly be complemented to guarantee the blood sugar regulation. Because of the insulin’s protein similar structure (it is after all a protein) it would be decomposed in the digestive tract and must therefore be injected. A normal weighty grown up can have a daily need of insulin of about 40 I.U. (international units). The effects are manifold: It improves the intake of glucose in the cells of most tissue species. It raises the oxidative degradation of glucose. Insulin increases the building of glycogen (stored sugar) in the liver and in the muscles and it promotes the building of protein and fat from glucose. It also promotes the transformation of free fatty acids into fat depot (triglyceride) and works against fat degradation (lipolysis).
Translated by Juliane Machado |
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in Version 00.08.49