Glucagon is absorbed from the rectum but does not hasten recovery from hypoglycaemia in patients with type 1 diabetes.

Aims: A failure to secrete glucagon during hypoglycaemia is near universal in patients with type 1 diabetes 5 years after disease onset and may contribute to delayed counter-regulation during hypoglycaemia. Rectal glucagon delivery may assist glucose recovery following insulin-induced hypoglycaemia in such patients and has not been previously studied.

Methods: Six male patients (age 21-38 years) with type 1 diabetes (median duration 10 years) without microvascular complications, were studied supine after an overnight fast on two separate occasions at least 14 days apart.

Hyperglycemia stimulates a sustained increase in hydraulic conductivity in vivo without any change in reflection coefficient.

Objective: Increased microvascular permeability contributes to the development of diabetic microvascular complications and diabetic vasculopathy is correlated with blood glucose levels. The mechanisms underlying increased permeability, however, are poorly understood.

Methods: The Landis-Michel technique was used to measure water permeability (hydraulic conductivity, Lp) and macromolecular permeability (reflection coefficient, sigma) of exchange capillaries in frogs and rats.