Pancreatic polypeptide secretion in diabetic patients with idiopathic haemochromatosis

In order to investigate the endocrine pancreatic dysfunction resulting from iron overload, plasma pancreatic polypeptide (PP) response to a protein-rich meal was studied in 10 healthy controls and 30 insulin-dependent (type I) diabetic patients: ten with idiopathic haemochromatosis (IH), ten with chronic pancreatitis and ten with idiopathic type I diabetes. While fasting plasma PP levels were slightly higher in diabetic with IH (40,8 +/- 7 pmol/l) than those in controls (27,1 +/- 3) on in type I diabetics (31,3 +/- 3) they were similar after the meal (peak level 95 +/- 18, 139 +/- 23, 100 +/- 36 respectively). In contrast the mean PP level was low in diabetics with chronic pancreatitis in the fasting state (15.9 +/- 3.6 pmol/l) and did not rise following the meal. These findings suggest that there is no PP cell injury in diabetics with IH.