Effects of acetylsalicylic acid on blood glucose, plasma FFA, glycerol, 3-hydroxybutyrate, alanine, C-peptide, glucagon and growth hormone responses to arginine in insulin-dependent diabetics.

This study aimed at evaluating the effect of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) on blood glucose, plasma FFA, glycerol, 3-hydroxybutyrate, alanine, C-peptide, glucagon and growth hormone responses to arginine in subjects with insulin-dependent diabetes. For this purpose, seven insulin-requiring diabetics were submitted to a standard arginine tolerance test before and after a three day treatment with ASA (50 mg/kg/daily, plus 1 g before the second test). ASA treatment resulted in no significant changes in either basal or arginine-stimulated blood glucose, but it significantly decreased the basal concentrations of plasma FFA (p less than 0.05), 3-hydroxybutyrate (p less than 0.05) and glycerol (p less than 0.05). In addition, the fall in plasma FFA concentrations during arginine infusion was significantly less after ASA than levels observed without ASA (--262 +/- 100 microEq/l vs --35 +/- 57 microEq/l, p less than 0.02). No significant changes in either basal or arginine-stimulated glucagon concentrations were observed after ASA; by contrast, the growth hormone peak was significantly reduced after ASA (11.3 +/- 4.2 ng/ml vs 5.1 +/- 1.1 ng/ml, p less than 0.05). These metabolic effects exerted by ASA in insulin-dependent diabetes seem not to be related to alterations in endogenously secreted insulin since C-peptide circulating levels were similar during the pre- and post-treatment arginine tests.