[Tobacco smoking and beta-cell secretion]

The beta-cell secretion was studied in 7 healthy volunteers (women) by a venous glucagon (1 mg) test. First the test was carried out without smoking and then repeated one week later on the background of continuous smoking (4 cigarettes at intervals of 15 min). The C-peptide was examined at the 0, 10, and 60, min. The mean age of the volunteers was 44.5 +/- 5.1 years and the mean body mass index was 24.22 +/- 1.9 kg/m2. The area of the stimulated insulin secretion under the C-peptide curve in the test on the background of smoking was significantly smaller than in the test without smoking (F = 5.09, p less than 0.05). The conclusion is that smoking exerts an unfavourable influence on the beta-cell secretion.