[ Somatostatin in insulin-dependent diabetics and in pancreatectomized patients (author's transl)]

The inhibitory effect of somatostatin on the secretion of glucagon permits the examination of the effect of glucagon on some metabolic parameters in the insulin-dependent diabetic patient. The results obtained in 5 insulin-dependent diabetics and in 4 pancreatectomized patients revealed an inhibitory effect of somatostatin on blood glucose in the juvenile-type diabetics, but failed to show this influence of somatostatin in the pancreatectomized patients. These observations indicate a participation of glucagon in the generation of hyperglycaemia in diabetes mellitus. However, the failure of somatostatin to influence the blood glucose level in pancreatectomized patients contrasts with the results obtained in dogs and emphasizes the difficulty and pit falls in the application of animal experiments with somatostatin to humans.