title: Increase of blood glucose concentrations in diabetic patients with glucagon eyedrops.
abstract: Hypoglycemic crisis is a common occurrence in diabetic patients. In order to reverse the hypoglycemia, glucagon eyedrops at concentrations of 2.5%, 5.0%, and 7.5% were instilled to the eyes of diabetic patients who were fasted overnight. The glucagon eyedrops raised the blood glucose efficiently in a dose-dependent manner and peaked at 30 min after drug instillation. At 2.5%, glucagon raised the blood glucose 0.83 mmol.L-1 which exceeded the minimal requirement of 0.56 mmol.L-1 increase in blood glucose level at hypoglycemic crisis. At 5.0% and 7.5%, glucagon eyedrops increased the blood glucose level further to 1.76 and 1.91 mmol.L-1, respectively. These results indicate that glucagon can be delivered effectively through ocular route to raise the systemic blood glucose for the treatment of hypoglycemic crisis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, China.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Chuang
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Chiou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D005934:Glucagon / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D007003:Hypoglycemia / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009883:Ophthalmic Solutions
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D009883:Ophthalmic Solutions; D005934:Glucagon