Treatment of hypoglycemia with glucagon eye drops

Glucagon is useful in the treatment of insulin-induced hypoglycemia when dextrose tablet, paste, or solution is not available. A prolonged hypoglycemia might lead to irreversible coma. Although injection of glucose or glucagon will correct the hypoglycemia, the patients are usually unable to handle it by themselves in such an occasion. A new method has been developed in this study to administer glucagon through the eyes as eye drops. Glucagon at 0.2% raised the blood glucose effectively to 204 mg % from 104 mg % in 30 min, came down to 116 mg % in 2 hrs, and remained at the same level for the rest of the experiments. In contrast, a therapeutic dose of glucagon (50 micrograms/3 kg i.v.) increased the blood glucose concentration rapidly to reach 235 mg % from 125 mg % at 30 min then reached the bottom at 120 min after the injection. At 1%, glucagon raised the blood glucose concentration to 248 mg % from 103 mg % in 30 min and remained high for another 60 min. It declined gradually to reach 120 mg % in 6 hrs. At 5%, glucagon raised the blood glucose concentration quickly to 276 mg % from 130 mg % in 60 min and remained high for the next 90 min and then declined gradually to reach 160 mg % at the end of 6 hr experiment period. These results suggest that a sufficient amount of glucagon can be absorbed rapidly into systemic circulation to raise blood glucose concentrations.