- Insulin is produced by
beta cells in the pancreas and is the most important hormone in the body
to regulate blood glucose levels. A partial or complete lack of insulin
causes diabetes, which, untreated, is often fatal by the teenage years.
- Before insulin was
discovered, diabetes was managed through diet, which allowed patients to
survive, but generally for just a few years after diagnosis. Doctors
finally had a means to offer patients a nearly normal quality of life,
and it quickly became necessary to increase insulin production.
- For 60 years, cattle
and pigs were the sources of insulin. Although these products were
highly effective, concerns arose about the growing diabetic population,
long-term supply, and potential allergic reactions.
- Insulin consists of a
21-amino acid A chain and a 30-amino acid B chain, linked by two
disulfide bonds. It can be produced either by generating the chains
separately and chemically combining them or by creating a single-chain
precursor, human proinsulin, and cleaving out a 35-amino acid connecting
peptide. For manufacturing the drug, the proinsulin route is favored
because it requires a single fermentation and isolation step.
- Insulin is often
described as being either 'natural' ('animal') or 'human'. The sequence
of amino acids (building blocks that make up the protein) is slightly
different in insulins from different species. The insulin that humans
make differs from that which pigs and cows make. Porcine insulin has one
different amino acid and bovine insulin has three different amino acids.
Luckily, these very slight differences do not affect the way in which
the insulin works inside the human body.
- Human insulin is not
prepared from human pancreas tissue. It is prepared on a large scale by
modern molecular technology. Porcine insulin can be chemically modified
so that it resembles human insulin. The letters emp on a bottle of
insulin indicate that it has been enzymatically modified from porcine
insulin. This type of human insulin is sometimes referred to as
semisynthetic human insulin.
- There are four types of
insulin preparation, based on activity: Fast acting, Short acting,
Intermediate acting, Long acting. Fast and short acting insulins are
clear. Intermediate and long acting insulins are cloudy. In addition,
there are numerous pre-mixed insulins, containing fixed proportions
usually of a short and an intermediate acting insulin.
- Proinsulin is the
prohormone precursor to insulin made in the beta cell of the islets of
Langerhans. It is synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum, where it is
folded and its disulfide bonds are oxidized. It is then transported to
the Golgi apparatus where it is packaged into secretory vesicles, where
it is processed by a series of proteases to form mature insulin. Mature
insulin has 39 less amino acids; 4 are removed altogether, and the
remaining 35 form the C-peptide. The C-peptide is abstracted from the
center of the proinsulin sequence; the two other ends (the B chain and A
chain) remain connected by disulfide bonds.
- When insulin is
purified from bovine or porcine pancreas, all the proinsulin is not
fully removed. When some people use these insulins, the proinsulin can
cause the body to react with a rash, to resist the insulin, or even to
make dents or lumps in the skin at the place where the insulin is
injected. In some type 1 diabetics, the autoimmune response which
destroyed the islets of Langerhans acted against proinsulin, making them
more susceptible to this sort of a side effect. However, sometimes the
iatrogenic immune response comes from slight differences between bovine,
porcine and human insulin itself.
- The future of insulin
holds many possibilities. Since insulin was first synthesized, diabetics
needed to regularly inject the liquid insulin with a syringe directly
into their bloodstream. This allows the insulin to enter the blood
immediately. For many years it was the only way known to move the intact
insulin protein into the body. In the 1990s, researchers began to make
inroads in synthesizing various devices and forms of insulin that
diabetics can use in an alternate drug delivery system.
- Manufacturers are
currently producing several relatively new drug delivery devices.
Insulin pens look like a writing pen. A cartridge holds the insulin and
the tip is the needle. The user set a dose, inserts the needle into the
skin, and presses a button to inject the insulin. With pens there is no
need to use a vial of insulin. However, pens require inserting separate
tips before each injection. Another downside is that the pen does not
allow users to mix insulin types, and not all insulin is
available.
- Insulin patches are
another drug delivery system in development. Patches would release
insulin continuously into the bloodstream. Users would pull a tab on the
patch to release more insulin before meals.
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General
Information
- Insulin
- Information on
insulin
- History of
insulin
- Proinsulin
- International standard
for insulin, Human
Manufacturing
process
- Enzymes from higher
eukaryotes for industrial biocatalysis
- Insulin-like growth
factor binding protein production by bovine and human vascular smooth
muscle cells
- Cultured porcine
myogenic cells produce insulin-like growth factor binding
protein-3
- Synthesis of insulin
from natural and synthetic A and B chains
- Manufacturing process
of insulin
- Diosynth manufacturing
process of porcine insulin
- Insulin
production
Functions and
Properties
- Molecular cloning of
the porcine acid-labile subunit (ALS)
of the insulin-like growth
factor-binding protein complex
- The crystallization and
partial characterization of porcine Trypsin
- Effects of porcine
stress syndrome
- Liquid transport
properties of porcine tracheal epithelium
- Molecular cloning and
regulation of porcine SULT2A1
- The Effects of porcine
somatotropin and dietary lysine
- Survival and maturation
of microencapsulated porcine
neonatal pancreatic cell clusters
- Albumin binding of
acylated insulin (NN304) does not deter action to stimulate glucose
uptake
- Gastric motor and
cardiovascular effects of insulin in dorsal vagal complex of the
rat
- Effects of insulin-like
growth factor I and insulin on proliferation and on basal
- Insulin alone can lead
to a withdrawal of meiotic arrest in the carp oocyte
- Insulin regulates milk
production and mammary gland
- Screening enteroviruses
for beta-cell tropism using foetal porcine beta-cells
- Separation and
characterization of acid-induced insulin transformation
products
Company
Profiles
- ALPCO
Diagnostics
- Beta Innovative
Pharmaceutical Technology
- Diosynth
Biotechnology
- Mercodia
- Microislet Inc.
- ProSpec-Tany TechnoGene
LTD
- Revivicor
- Setushree
Enterprises
- Wockhardt UK
Consultants
Projects
- Porcine hepatocyte cell
recovery for the treatment of humen liver disease
- Control of porcine
circovirus diseases
- Counter measures to
prevent the porcine respiratory disease complex
- Preventing porcine
endogenous retrovirus transmission in xenograft tissues
- Mixed infections with
different chlamydia strains and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus
- Prevention of
retrovirus production in porcine organs for xenotransplantation
Applications
- Accumulation of
topically applied porcine insulin in the retina and optic nerve in
normal and diabetic rats
- Insulin in oral immune
tolerance
- Very pure porcine
insulin in clinical practice
- The chromatography of
insulin in urea-containing buffer
- Insulin- A final push
in the cure for diabetes
- Production of
prostaglandins by porcine preovulatory follicular tissues
- Use of porcine serum in
lymphocyte culture
Patent
- Method of cloning
porcine animals
- Isolated porcine
pancreatic cells for use in treatment of diseases characterized by
insufficient insulin activity
- Porcine
E-selectin
- Stabilized porcine
growth hormone
- Isolation and culture
of porcine hepatocytes
- Transdermal
insulin
- Acylated insulin
- Insulin
derivatives
- Porcine growth hormone
analogs, and compositions
Suppliers and Buyers
- Selling leads of
Porcine
- Healen Ingredients
Ltd.
- Foreign exporters and
manufacturers of porcine
- Nature's Thyme
- Buying leads of
porcine
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Material Safety Data Sheet
- Mouse anti-human
insulin monoclonal antibody
- Insulin, Porcine
- Pork Act rapid
- Insulin, Porcine-data
sheet
- Insulin, Pork
- Insulin from hog
pancreas
Technology
- An auto regulatory
process for androgen production in rat thecal-interstitial cells
- Conversion of
proinsulin to insulin
- Insulin synthesis,
secretary competence, and glucose utilization are sensitized by
transgenic yeast hexokina
- Incomplete processing
of proinsulin to insulin
- High-throughput
determination of protein degradation using the nanostream CL
system
- Regulation of Porcine
Granulosa Cell Steroidogenic Acute Regulatory Protein by Insulin-Like
Growth Factor I
- Detection and in vitro
and in vivo characterization of porcine circovirus DNA from a
porcine-derived commercial pepsin product
- Recombinant DNA
technology in the synthesis of human insulin
- Identification of
bovine material in porcine spray-dried blood derivatives using the
polymerase chain reaction technique
Market
- Overall market of
bovine, porcine and human insulin
- The key to success in
biotechnology
- Comparison of metabolic
control and insulin antibody production
-
Human insulin to rule the roost
- Nutritional and
developmental roles of insulin-like growth factors between
species
- Step forward for islet
transplantation in diabetes patient
- Dermal fillers
revolution
- Minimal residues of
porcine reproductive and respiratory
syndrome virus in pig carcases
and Boar Semen
- Effects of porcine
small intestinal submucosa on elution characteristics of
gentamicin-impregnated plaster of Paris
- Porcine proliferate
enteropathy
- The Romanian pork
market
Products
- Mercodia Porcine
insulin ELISA
- Anti-insulin, clone MAB
1
- Caninsulin
- Porcine insulin
- Insulin ultrasensitive
EIA
- Vetinsulin
- Trypsin, from porcine
pancreas
Report
- IgE-mediated allergy to
recombinant human insulin in a diabetic
- Alternative insulin for
diabetic dogs
- Porcine genomic
sequencing initiative
- Insulin market
report
- Microislet, Inc.-
Company report
- Fraunhofer USA -
Company report
- Immunohistochemical
identification of porcine respiratory coronavirus antigen in the lung of
conventional pigs
- Development of one-cell
porcine embryos to the blastocyst stage in simple media
- Experimental analysis
of flocculant treatments of organic waste
from swine
production
- Retrospective study of
porcine circovirus 2 infection in Japan
- PCR assay for detecting
porcine cytomegalovirus
- Secondary transmission
in porcine cysticercosis
Guides
- Avoiding insulin
errors
- Guidelines for insulin
and insulin therapy
- Guidelines for insulin
selection
- Pharmacist's guide to
insulin preparations
- Learning about
pigs
- FAQ about porcine
insulin
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