Biomedical subjects

B A Biggee

Publications and source records attributed to B A Biggee.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Effects of oral glucosamine sulphate on serum glucose and insulin during an oral glucose tolerance test of subjects with osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND: and objective: Glucosamine is suggested to affect glucose transport and insulin resistance. The effects of oral glucosamine on serum glucose and insulin levels at the initiation and throughout the duration of a 3-h oral glucose tolerance test were examined. METHODS: Sera from 16 patients with osteoarthritis, but with no other diagnosed medical condition who had fasted overnight, were obtained every 15-30 min during the 3 h of continued fasting and during the 3 h after ingestion of 75 g of glucose with or without ingestion of 1500 mg of glucosamine sulphate. Glucose was analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography using a Metrohm-Peak 817 Bioscan, and the area under the curve (AUC) for glucose was calculated. Insulin was measured by radioimmunoassay every 30 min for 2 h. RESULTS: Three participants who were found to have previously undiagnosed abnormalities of glucose tolerance demonstrated significant (p = 0.04) incremental elevations in glucose levels after ingestion of glucosamine sulphate. The other 13 participants also had mean incremental elevations that were not significant (p = 0.20). Glucosamine sulphate ingestion had no effect on insulin levels. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that glucosamine ingestion may affect glucose levels and consequent glucose uptake in patients who have untreated diabetes or glucose intolerance.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Sulphate and osteoarthritis: decrease of serum sulphate levels by an additional 3-h fast and a 3-h glucose tolerance test after an overnight fast.

BACKGROUND: Low sulphate levels in blood may contribute to osteoarthritis by decreasing cartilage chondroitin sulphation. OBJECTIVE: To measure serum levels of sulphate during 3 h of fasting or glucose ingestion after overnight fasts to determine how much sulphate lowering may occur during this period. METHODS: Sera from 14 patients with osteoarthritis who fasted overnight were obtained every 15-30 min during 3 h of continued fasting and during 3 h after ingestion of 75 g of glucose. Sulphate was assayed by high-performance liquid chromatography with a Metrohm-Peak 761 Compact IC and simultaneously assayed for glucose by high-performance liquid chromatography with a Metrohm-Peak 817 Bioscan. RESULTS: Continuation of overnight fasting for 3 h resulted in a near-linear 3-h decrease in levels for all 14 patients ranging from 3% to 20% with a mean drop of 9.3%, whereas the 3-h decrease after glucose ingestion ranged from 10% to 33% with a mean drop of 18.9%. CONCLUSION: A 3-h continuation of fasting caused a marked reduction in serum sulphate levels, whereas ingestion of 75 g of glucose in the absence of protein resulted in doubling the reduction. This suggests that fasting and ingestion of protein-free calories may produce periods of chondroitin undersulphation that could affect osteoarthritis.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Low levels of human serum glucosamine after ingestion of glucosamine sulphate relative to capability for peripheral effectiveness.

BACKGROUND: Oral glucosamine preparations are widely used as a treatment for osteoarthritis, purportedly functioning by a variety of mechanisms suggested by results of in vitro experiments, and generally using glucosamine concentrations well in excess of 100 micromol/l. OBJECTIVE: To use high performance liquid chromatography with a high sensitivity Metrohm-Peak instrument for pulsed amperometric measurement of human serum glucosamine; a detection limit of 0.5 micromol/l at 1:10 serum dilution allowed measurement of low levels of glucosamine in human serum, which previously has not been possible. METHODS: Eighteen subjects with osteoarthritis were given 1,500 mg of commercial glucosamine sulphate after an overnight fast, and serum was then obtained at baseline and every 15-30 minutes over 3 hours, and additionally, from two subjects at 5 and 8 hours. Urine samples were collected at baseline and 3 hours after ingestion from three subjects. RESULTS: Baseline glucosamine was below the detection limit of 0.5 mumol/l for all subjects, but after ingestion, glucosamine was detected in 17/18 subjects, beginning to rise at 30-45 minutes to a maximum at 90-180 minutes, with a range of 1.9-11.5 micromol/l (0.34-2 microg/ml). CONCLUSION: This maximum concentration of 11.5 micromol/l has previously been shown to contribute less than 2% of the galactosamine incorporated into chondroitin sulphate in incubations of glucosamine with cultured human chondrocytes, and is a much lower concentration than the glucosamine concentrations claimed by other investigators to have various significant in vitro effects. This raises questions about current biological rationales for glucosamine use that were based on in vitro effects of glucosamine at much higher concentrations.

Administration, Oral↗