Treatment of Diabetes Flashcards
What monitors blood glucose?
Pancreas
What is central to controlling all glucose levels?
The liver
Where is glucagon released from and what is its purpose?
Glucagon is released from α cells + upper GI if blood glucose is low to stimulate glycogen breakdown + gluconeogenesis in the liver
Where is insulin released from and what is its purpose?
Insulin is released from β cells if blood glucose is high to stimulates the liver, adipose and muscle to take up glucose
What occurs in diabetes?
Diabetes occurs when regulation of blood glucose is disrupted
Describe the common differences between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
TYPE 1:
- Often diagnosed in childhood
- Not associated with excess body weight
- Often associated with higher than normal ketone levels at diagnosis
- Treated with insulin injections or insulin pump
- Cannot be controlled without taking insulin
TYPE 2:
- Usually diagnosed in over 30 year olds
- Often associated with excess body weight
- Often associated with high blood pressure and/or cholesterol levels at diagnosis
- Is usually treated initially without medication or with tablets
- Sometimes possible to come off diabetes medication
Why does the occur progressing from pre diabetes to diabetes occur?
This is due to a disruption of an individual’s ability to metabolise glucose.
Might not yet appear to have diabetes but may have hyperinsulinemia due to lower insulin sensitivity
Full diabetes progresses when beta-cell failure surpasses a critical threshold usually ~90%
Describe the aim of insulin in treating Type 1 diabetes.
Aim in treating Type I diabetics - replacement therapy to normalize glucose levels 4-7 mM (pre- prandial/fasting).
What are normal glucose levels two hours after a mean?
In normal individuals glucose level can rise higher but should be <7.8 mM two hours after a meal.
When will glucose be detected in urine?
Blood glucose levels >10 mM will overload the renal capacity and be detected in the urine.
How is insulin made?
human insulin is made by recombinant DNA technology, which allows an identical pure preparation, limiting allergic reactions.
How is insulin administered and why?
Insulin is administered parentally because it is a protein that would be destroyed/digested by the gut if taken orally.
For routine use it is given subcutaneously and by IV infusion in emergencies.
What are designer insulins?
Altering the amino acids in the insulin structure can usefully alter insulin kinetics – these modified human insulins are called designer insulins
Describe and name rapid-acting soluble insulin.
Insulin Lispro or Insulin Aspart, designer insulins that prevent dimer formation allowing more active monomers to be bioavailable and used rapidly.
Describe and name an intermediate-acting insulin.
Neutral Protamine Hagedorn/Isophane Insulin is an intermediate-acting insulin that precipitates insulin into suspensions which slowly dissolve.
Describe and name a longer acting designer insulin.
Insulin Glargine is a longer acting designer Insulin which has decreased solubility at neutral pH - forms aggregates that slowly dissolve.
Describe and name a long-acting designer insulin with a fatty acid.
Insulin Detemir is a long-acting designer insulin with a fatty acid – this confers albumin binding, which slowly dissociates prolonging circulation.
What type of insulin is often used in T1D?
T1Ds require insulin replacement so an intermediate-acting preparation or a more long-acting analogue is often combined with a short-acting analogue taken before meals.
Describe the duration of activity and formulation/structural changes of Insulin Lispro.
Rapid acting
Human insulin with penultimate lysine and proline reversed in beta chain
What do structural changes in Insulin Lispro prevent?
Structural changes prevents insulin dimers and hexamers increasing availability of active monomers
Describe the duration of activity and formulation/structural changes of Insulin Aspart.
Rapid acting
Human insulin with Proline 28 switched to Aspartic acid in beta chain
What do structural changes in Insulin Aspart prevent?
Structural changes prevents insulin dimers and hexamers increasing availability of active monomers
Describe the duration of activity and formulation/structural changes of Neutral Protamine Hagedorn/ Isophane Insulin.
Intermediate acting
Human insulin complexed with positively charged polypeptide (protamine) and zinc
Describe the slow dissolving of Neutral Protamine Hagedorn/ Isophane Insulin.
Aggregates in suspension that slowly dissolve from injections site; “Isophane” insulins were (initially made with porcine insulin but now use recombinant human insulin)
Describe the duration of activity and formulation/structural changes of Insulin Detemir.
Long acting “peakless" Fatty acid (myristic acid) added to Lys29 of beta chain
Describe the features of absorption and dissociation of Insulin Detemir.
Rapidly absorbed but FA side-chain confers binding to albumin. Slowly dissociates from complex
Describe the duration of activity and formulation/structural changes of Insulin Glargine.
Long acting “peakless” basal analogue
Glycine for Asparagine substitution at N21 and 2 arginine amino acids added to the end of beta chain
What makes Insulin Glargine less soluble, what is the purpose?
Shift isoelectric point making it less soluble at neutral pH creating aggregates which slowly dissolve into active monomers
Why is fixed dose therapy useful?
A fixed dose therapy can help to simplify the understanding of blood glucose results but does not offer the flexibility of how much carbohydrate patients choose to consume at each meal
When is flexible insulin therapy used?
Flexible insulin therapy is used for patients that really understand glucose metabolism and gives patients more control of what they eat and how they balance their blood glucose levels but will take time and commitment to learn how best to adjust insulin doses.
On a flexible insulin therapy patients choose how much insulin to inject at each meal and also allows doses to be varied in response to different carbohydrate quantities in meals.
Once daily regimen: Number of injections? Time of injections? Suitability? Meal time and content: Required patient understanding?
Number of injections: 1
Time of injections: Morning
Suitability: T2D
Meal time and content: Less flexible
Required patient understanding: Basic
Describe the formulations used in the once daily insulin regimen.
long acting (Glargine) or Intermediate (e.g. NPH)
Twice daily regimen: Number of injections? Time of injections? Suitability? Meal time and content: Required patient understanding?
Number of injections: 2
Time of injections: Morning + Evening
Suitability: T1D and T2D
Meal time and content: Less flexible
Required patient understanding: Basic
Describe the formulations used in the twice daily insulin regimen.
Short acting mixed with intermediate formulation