Uniphasic insulin responses to secretin stimulation in man.

Secretin-stimulated insulin release was studied in normal subjects. In response to rapid intravenous injections (pulses) of secretin, insulin levels reached a peak between 2 and 5 min and returned to basal levels with 15 min. In contrast to large glucose pulses, increasing secretin pulses did not elicit sustained or prolonged insulin responses. In addition, insulin responses to a pulse and infusion were essentially identical with that of a pulse alone. Increasing secretin pulses given in 1 day were associated with decreasing insulin responses but not when the same pulses of secretin were given over a 2 day period. When time was the sole variable, insulin responses progressively decreased after identical 15-U secretin pulses given every 30 min, but were unchanged when the interval was 105 min. These observations indicate that secretin in contrast to glucose stimulates insulin release which is uniphasic. They suggest that release occurs only from a stored, readily available pool. This insulin pool appears to be relatively small and can be discharged faster than it refills.