The Role of Glucagon in Cardiac Therapy

Abstract

Until recently, glucagon has been of primary interest only to the endocrinologist and biochemist. As a polypeptide hormone produced by the alpha cells of the pancreas, its primary physiologic role appears to be related to the maintenance of glucose levels in the blood. Thus, it acts primarily in the liver by activating adenyl cyclase activity, which promotes the formation of cyclic AMP from ATP. Cyclic AMP, in turn, activates phosphorylase and promotes glycogenolysis. Although it has been known for more than a decade that pharmacologic doses of glucagon have cardiovascular actions, it has only been in the last three or . . .