Open AccessIMMUNOASSAY OF ENDOGENOUS PLASMA INSULIN IN MAN
Author(s) -
YALOW ROSALYN S.,
BERSON SOLOMON A.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
obesity research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1550-8528
pISSN - 1071-7323
DOI - 10.1002/j.1550-8528.1996.tb00274.x
Subject(s) - insulin , medicine , endocrinology , alloxan , adipose tissue , carbohydrate metabolism , in vivo , hypoglycemia , glucose uptake , immunoassay , plasma glucose , chemistry , diabetes mellitus , biology , antibody , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology
For years investigators have sought an assay for insulin which would combine virtually absolute specificity with a high degree of sensitivity, sufficiently exquisite for measurement of the minute insulin concentrations usually present in the circulation. Methods in use recently depend on the ability of insulin to exert an effect on the metabolism of glucose in vivo or in excised muscle or adipose tissue. Thus, the insulin concentration in plasma has been estimated: a) from the degree of hypoglycemia produced in hypophysectomized, adrenalectomized, alloxan‐diabetic rats (1); b) from the augmentation of glucose uptake by isolated rat hemidiaphragm (2); or c) from the increased oxidation of glucose‐1‐C 14 by the rat epididymal fat pad (3). Since there have been reports indicating the presence, in plasma, of inhibitors of insulin action (4) and of noninsulin substances capable of inducing an insulin‐like effect (5,6), these procedures, while yielding interesting information regarding the effects of various plasmas on glucose metabolism in tissues, are of doubtful specificity for the measurement of insulin per se (5).