Background: To validate a test for independent assessment of insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity during the same occasion for metabolic studies in clinical practice, i.e. combined glucagon-stimulated C-peptide test and insulin tolerance test (GITT).
Subjects and methods: We measured C-peptide response to 0.5 mg of intravenous glucagon followed 30 min later by administration of 0.05 U kg(-1) insulin (insulin tolerance test, ITT). Ten subjects with normal glucose tolerance participated on different days in an ITT, glucagon-C-peptide test, ITT followed by glucagon-C-peptide test and glucagon-C-peptide test followed by ITT to establish whether and how the tests could be combined. The test was then repeated in nine patients with type 2 diabetes to investigate its reproducibility. In 20 subjects with varying degrees of glucose tolerance, the test was compared with the Botnia clamp (an intravenous glucose tolerance test combined with a euglycaemic hyperinsulinemic clamp).
Results: When ITT preceded the glucagon test, C-peptide response was blunted. Therefore, we first administered glucagon and then insulin (GITT). The K(ITT) from the GITT was reproducible (CV = 13 %) and correlated strongly with the glucose disposal rate from the Botnia clamp (r = 0.87, r(2) = 0.75, P < 0.001). The C-peptide response to glucagon was reproducible (CV = 13 %). The disposition index, providing a measure of beta-cell function adjusted for insulin sensitivity, calculated from the GITT showed good discrimination between individuals with varying degrees of glucose tolerance.
Conclusions: The GITT provides simple, reproducible and independent estimates of insulin sensitivity and secretion on the same occasion for metabolic studies in individuals with normal and abnormal glucose tolerance.