Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0023890 (cirrhosis)
 42,195 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Elevated plasma ammonia level in hepatic cirrhosis has been attributed to a lack of conversion of enteric ammonia into urea or to its entry into systemic circulation via portasystemic shunting, or to both. It is exaggerated by excessive protein intake. Because hyperglucagonemia is well documented in cirrhosis and a protein meal is an effective glucagon secretagogue, plasma glucose, insulin, glucagon, and ammonia levels were determined in 50 cirrhotic patients after an overnight fast. Effects of a protein meal were also assessed in 20 of these patients. Plasma glucose was normal and remained unaltered after a protein meal. Insulin, glucagon, and ammonia levels were elevated, but only in patients with advanced liver dysfunction. Ammonia levels correlated significantly with glucagon (r = 0.61, p less than 0.001), but not with insulin or glucose levels. Insulin and glucagon levels rose after a protein meal in all patients and controls; whereas a significant rise in the ammonia level occurred only in decompensated cirrhotics. Elevation of the ammonia level was significantly correlated with fasting glucagon (r = 0.54, p less than 0.05), as well as with glucagon response (r = 0.65, p less than 0.01), but not with basal insulin or insulin response. Furthermore, the rise in ammonia level occurred too early to be accounted for by enteric generation. Finally, direct effects of glucagon administration on plasma glucose and serum ammonia were examined in 15 cirrhotic patients. Glucose response was significantly blunted in cirrhotic patients as compared with normal subjects, whereas serum ammonia rose promptly but only in cirrhotics, with maximum rise being noted in cirrhotic patients with advanced liver dysfunction. This study, therefore, suggests that hyperglucagonemia may contribute significantly to hyperammonemia in hepatic cirrhosis.
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PMID:Elevated plasma ammonia level in hepatic cirrhosis: role of glucagon. 388 8

Insulin responses to oral glucose loads were studied in patients with obstructive jaundice and compared with those of other liver diseases (fatty liver, chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis), pancreatic diseases, and definite diabetes mellitus. Compared with their corresponding glucose intolerance, high insulin responses were characteristic in fatty liver, chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis, and insulin responses and insulinogenic index decreased in chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis as glucose intolerance progressed. In obstructive jaundice with the pancreatic ducts stenotic or obstructed, insulin responses were suppressed in comparison with their corresponding glucose intolerance, and also insulinogenic index were below 0.5 in most of the cases. However, in obstructive jaundice with the pancreatic ducts intact, high insulin responses were observed in almost half of the cases with insulinogenic index above 0.5, and insulin response and insulinogenic index decreased as glucose intolerance progressed. While most cases of fatty liver, chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis with insulinogenic index above 0.5 were distributed in non-diabetes zone in sigma BS-sigma IRI plane (Kosaka's), those with insulinogenic index below 0.5 were distributed in intermediate zone. Most cases with obstructive jaundice with pancreatic ducts stenotic or obstructed, had insulinogenic index below 0.5 and were distributed in diabetes zone. However, half of cases with obstructive jaundice with pancreatic ducts intact, had insulinogenic index above 0.5 and their distribution in non-diabetes zone, while the other half had insulinogenic index below 0.5 and their distribution in diabetes zone. Therefore, it may be concluded that insulin responses increase at the early stage of obstructive jaundice mainly under influence of liver dysfunction itself, but that insulin response is suppressed at later stage of obstructive jaundice as pancreatic islets are affected.
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PMID:[Clinical study on glucose intolerance and insulin response in obstructive jaundice]. 388 96

Insulin resistance in liver cirrhosis may depend on either reduced sensitivity (receptor defect) and/or reduced response to insulin (postreceptor defect). To clarify the mechanism of such resistance, a [3H]glucose infusion (0.2 microCi/min) was performed for 120 min before and during a euglycemic clamp at approximately 100, 1,000, and 10,000 microU/ml steady state plasma insulin concentration in 18 compensated cirrhotics with portal hypertension and impaired glucose tolerance, and 18 healthy volunteers with no family history of diabetes, matched for sex, age, and weight. Mean fasting plasma insulin (29.2 +/- 3.4 SEM vs. 14.8 +/- 1.1 microU/ml) was significantly higher (P less than 0.001) in cirrhotics, while fasting plasma glucose was much the same in the two groups. Glucose use (milligrams per kilogram per minute) was significantly lower in cirrhotics at all three steady state plasma insulin levels: 3.04 +/- 0.34 vs. 7.72 +/- 0.61 (P less than 0.001) at approximately 100; 6.05 +/- 1.07 vs. 11.45 +/- 1.24 (P less than 0.001) at approximately 1,000; and 11.69 +/- 0.69 vs. 14.13 +/- 0.74 (P less than 0.05) at approximately 10,000 microU/ml. Mean plasma C-peptide was significantly higher in cirrhotics both basally and during the steady states (P less than 0.001); it was completely suppressed at approximately 10,000 microU/ml in controls and only 57.5% of the baseline in cirrhotics. Endogenous glucose production (milligrams per kilogram per minute) was much the same in the two groups in the fasting state and almost entirely suppressed in the controls (0.10 +/- 0.05 vs. 0.48 +/- 0.11, P less than 0.001) at approximately 100 microU/ml; at approximately 1,000 microU/ml a residual glucose production, 0.07 +/- 0.05, was observed in the cirrhotics only. In addition, insulin binding and 3-ortho-methyl-glucose transport were studied in vitro in six cirrhotics and six controls. Insulin binding to circulating monocytes and isolated adipocytes was significantly lower (P less than 0.025) in cirrhotics in all insulin concentration studies. Glucose transport values on isolated adipocytes were significantly lower in cirrhotics both basally (P less than 0.001) and at maximal insulin concentration (P less than 0.05). These results suggest that insulin resistance in human cirrhosis is more dependent on depressed peripheral glucose use than on increased endogenous glucose production, and that a combined receptor and postreceptor defect in insulin action on target cells seems to be present.
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PMID:Mechanism of insulin resistance in human liver cirrhosis. Evidence of a combined receptor and postreceptor defect. 388 56

In order to investigate disturbances in glycoregulation and plasma amino acids and their possible relationship in alcoholic liver diseases, plasma concentrations of insulin, C-peptide, glucagon and branched-chain (valine, leucine, isoleucine) as well as aromatic (phenylalanine, tyrosine) amino acids were measured during an arginine test (i.v infusion of arginine chloride 0.5 g/kg over 30 min) in 21 alcoholic patients: 11 with cirrhosis (group C) and 10 with steatosis (group S). Insulin responses to arginine was reduced in both groups, whereas glucagon response was increased in group C and reduced in group S. Plasma concentrations of branched-chain amino acids were reduced in both groups, irrespective of the degree of hyperinsulinism. Plasma concentrations of aromatic amino acids were increased only in cirrhotic patients; the increase was independent of the degree of hyperglucagonism and of the plasma insulin/glucagon molar ratio. These results suggest that disturbances of glycoregulation in plasma amino acids imbalance do not play a major role in alcoholic cirrhosis and steatosis.
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PMID:[Disturbances in glycoregulation and plasma amino acids in alcoholic hepatopathies. Study using the arginine test]. 623 16

Eighteen patients with postnecrotic cirrhosis of liver, including three patients who had had a portosystemic shunt operation, and 19 normal controls were studied. The tests performed included monocyte insulin receptor assay, iv glucose tolerance test, glucagon test, and insulin tolerance test. Insulin resistance was documented by the presence of fasting hyperglycemia and glucose intolerance together with hyperinsulinemia as well as resistance to exogenous insulin. The binding of [125I]insulin to monocyte insulin receptors was significantly decreased in cirrhotic patients compared with that in controls (P less than 0.02), and this was due to a significant decrease in the high affinity association constant (P less than 0.005). There was a significant negative correlation between the fasting insulin level and maximum [125I]insulin binding in cirrhotic patients (r = -0.8; P less than 0.02). Cirrhotics that had had a shunt operation showed a higher fasting insulin level, a greater insulin resistance, and a smaller maximum [125I]insulin binding to insulin receptors than those without shunt. All of these findings suggested a down-regulatory effect of hyperinsulinemia on the monocyte insulin receptors. An impaired glycemic response to glucagon was also found in cirrhotics, the exact mechanism of which remains to be elucidated. However, as the increases in plasma cAMP after glucagon were similar in cirrhotics and controls, the fault apparently did not lie in the glucagon receptor.
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PMID:Down-regulation of insulin receptors in postnecrotic cirrhosis of liver. 628 82

To study the effects of intra- and extrahepatic portal-systemic shunts on insulin degradation, 11 patients with liver cirrhosis and 7 noncirrhotic patients with liver disease were studied with percutaneous transhepatic catheterization. Insulin levels in portal and peripheral blood were measured simultaneously for 1-2 hr after intravenous administration of glucose. The degrees of intra- and extrahepatic portal-systemic shunting were measured with this technique using 131I-macroaggregated albumin and 99mTc-macroaggregated albumin. The amount of insulin secreted and insulin degraded were assessed from the areas under blood concentration curves for portal and peripheral blood. Insulin degradation was significantly reduced in cirrhotics compared to noncirrhotics with liver disease, although there was no difference in the amount of insulin secreted between these two groups. It was also correlated significantly with the degree of intrahepatic shunting but not with the degree of extrahepatic shunting. These results suggest that intrahepatic shunting plays an important role in the reduction of insulin degradation in cirrhosis.
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PMID:Effects of intra- and extrahepatic portal systemic shunts on insulin metabolism. 633 94

The metabolic effects of a protein-rich meal were studied for 3 h in 10 controls and in 20 cirrhotic patients. After protein ingestion, blood glucose did not vary significantly. Insulin and glucagon levels rose in controls and, more markedly, in cirrhotics. Aromatic amino acids and tryptophan increased more in cirrhotics as a result of their decreased liver function. Similarly, branched-chain amino acids increased by 153 +/- 14 nmol/ml X min (mean +/- SE) in controls and by 259 +/- 27 nmol/ml X min in cirrhotics (p less than 0.02), in the presence of a markedly increased insulin response. Branched-chain amino acid metabolism mainly occurs in skeletal muscle under insulin control; in cirrhosis, it might be reduced as a consequence of insulin resistance. To support this hypothesis, the effects of the protein meal were compared with those of an oral glucose load in 15 cirrhotic patients. Branched-chain amino acid response to protein ingestion significantly correlated with blood glucose response to oral glucose (r = 0.714), and with insulin resistance during the glucose tolerance test, when assessed by the insulinogenic index (r = 0.628). Similarly, in 8 patients, increased branched-chain amino acid response also correlated with the index of tissue sensitivity to insulin obtained by means of the glucose clamp technique during continuous insulin infusion (r = -0.809). We conclude that liver cirrhosis is characterized by an abnormal branched-chain amino acid response to protein ingestion, which matches the well-known intolerance to oral glucose. Both alterations are possibly due to decreased peripheral insulin activity on substrates.
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PMID:Plasma amino acid response to protein ingestion in patients with liver cirrhosis. 634 56

Insulin and C-peptide in venous blood were determined during oral glucose tolerance testing in 59 non-manifest diabetics with histologically established chronic liver disease (fatty degeneration, chronic aggressive hepatitis, cirrhosis). Glucose tolerance was pathologic in 60-80% of patients. When compared to a control group patients with chronic liver disease showed significantly increased values of blood glucose (after glucose intake), of insulin and of C-peptide (fasting and after glucose intake). The C-peptide/insulin ratio, a measure of hepatic insulin degradation, was significantly decreased after glucose uptake. There were no significant differences of blood sugar, insulin and C-peptide among the various liver diseases. In chronic aggressive hepatitis and in cirrhosis the C-peptide/insulin ratio was partly significantly lower than in fatty degeneration. From the increased C-peptide values increased insulin secretion in chronic liver diseases can be deducted. In addition, the decreased C-peptide/insulin ratios show an impairment of insulin degradation in liver cirrhosis and other chronic hepatic diseases. However, in fatty liver degeneration this is clearly less pronounced than in more serious liver diseases.
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PMID:[Insulin and C-peptide in chronic liver diseases during oral glucose tolerance testing]. 636 4

This report describes a 55-year-old diabetic patient with severe insulin resistance due to obesity and hepatic cirrhosis. Anti-insulin antibodies were responsible for only a minor part of the insulin resistance. Insulin resistance was mediated primarily at the target tissue level by a combination of insulin receptor deficiency and a postreceptor defect. When the patient was treated with U-500 regular pork insulin subcutaneously, her insulin requirement was only one third to one half of that during U-100 NPH or regular insulin treatment. The reasons for the greater efficacy of U-500 insulin are unknown. U-500 insulin may have a place in the optimization of therapy for patients with insulin resistance of nonimmunologic origin.
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PMID:Enhanced efficacy of U-500 insulin in the treatment of insulin resistance caused by target tissue insensitivity. 636 60

Hepatic insulinase activity was studied in cirrhosis in an attempt to explain the hyperinsulinemia known to occur in this disease. Liver tissue was obtained during laparotomy in seven patients with cirrhosis of the liver and five patients without liver disease. Insulin degradation was significantly decreased in the cirrhotic liver at each time interval measured (p less than 0.05). Insulinase inhibitor activity was measured in the plasma of 12 patients with cirrhosis of the liver and six controls. There was no significant difference between the two groups. Decreased insulinase activity in cirrhosis may account, in part, for the hyperinsulinemia seen in this disease.
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PMID:Insulin degradation in hepatic cirrhosis. 637 64


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