Aims/hypothesis: The insulinotropic hormone, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), is rapidly degraded in vivo as a result of the combination of extensive enzymatic degradation and renal extraction. The GLP-1 receptor agonist, exendin-4, has a longer duration of action, and has recently been approved as a new agent for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Exendin-4 is less prone to enzymatic degradation, but it is still unclear what other factors contribute to the increased metabolic stability.
Materials and methods:The overall metabolism of GLP-1 and exendin-4 was directly compared in anaesthetised pigs (n=9). Results: Metabolism of GLP-1 (C-terminal RIA; t 1/2 2.0±0.2 min, metabolic clearance rate [MCR] 23.2±2.8 ml min −1 kg −1 ; N-terminal RIA; t 1/2 1.5±0.2 min, MCR 88.1±10.6 ml min −1 kg −1 ) was significantly faster than the metabolism of exendin-4 (t 1/2 22.0±2