Influence of indomethacin on glucose-induced insulin response in normal man--role of prostaglandins in the rapid insulin release?

The possibility of a role of endogenous prostaglandins in glucose-induced insulin release was investigated in normal human subjects with short-term indomethacin treatment. This treatment was found profoundly to inhibit the early insulin response to a 1 h glucose infusion test. In contrast, the later insulin response was enhanced, probably mainly as a result of the higher degree of hyperglycemia induced in experiments with the drug. Together with in vitro data on the relationship between prostaglandins and cyclic AMP in the pancreatic islets, the present finding is considered to point at the possibility of an involvement of prostaglandins in the normal regulation of the rapid glucose-induced insulin release.