Types of insulin and their effect. Table

Modern pharmacology offers patients with diabetes a huge selection of insulin preparations. And today we will talk about what kinds of insulin are.

Insulin: Species

All available insulin preparations are divided into three types (depending on the time of action and the onset of therapeutic effect):

• "Short";
• "Medium";
• "Long".

"Short" insulins

It is the short-acting insulin drugs that are most often prescribed to patients who have problems with blood sugar.

After the product enters the human body, it begins to work after thirty minutes. This translates it into a category of highly effective drugs used in the treatment of diabetes. Quite often this kind of insulin is prescribed simultaneously with long-acting insulin.

To determine the choice, it is necessary to take into account the following factors:

• General condition of the patient;
• Place of administration of the drug;
• dosage.

The most popular are insulin preparations, starting to work already within the first 15 minutes after administration. This means "Apidra", "Humagol" and "Novorapid".

Features

Among the fast-acting human insulin is the preparation "Homorap" and "Insumad Rapid". There is practically no difference between the two. The only difference is in the amount of the amino acids present in its composition.

To "fast" insulin of animal origin are also medicines "Insulrap SPP", "Iletin II Regular" and others. They are most often prescribed for type II diabetes. Funds from this category contain proteins with a different structure, and therefore are not suitable for all patients. For example, "fast" insulin of animal origin can not be administered to people whose body is not able to process animal lipids.

Reception, dosage, storage of "short" insulins

Take the drug immediately before meals. In this case, the food accelerates the absorption of insulin, the effect comes almost immediately.

"Fast" insulin can be taken orally, previously diluting them to a liquid state.

If a subcutaneous injection of the drug is practiced, the injection should be done approximately 30 minutes before the planned meal.

Dosage to each person who has diabetes mellitus is selected individually. For adults, the dose will be 8-24 units per day, and for children - not more than 8 units.

Store drugs at a temperature of + 2- + 8 degrees. To do this, the shelf in the refrigerator door is suitable.

"Average" insulins

Diabetics are forced to take medications that maintain a normal blood sugar level. But every type of diabetes needs a certain kind of insulin. So a drug with an average duration, is used in the case when glucose needs a gradual splitting. It can also be used if at the moment there is no possibility of using "short" insulin.

Features of "medium" insulin

Preparations have several features:

• They begin to act as early as 10 minutes after administration;
• It takes quite a bit of time for complete cleavage.

Insulins from this category may have different active bases, in particular, insulin zinc or isophane. Especially well proven are the following drugs:

• Among human insulins - means "Protafan", "Humulin," "Monotard" and "Homolong";
• Among the animal remedies there are medicines "Berlinsulin", "Monotard HM" and "Iletin II".

"Long" insulins

It is timely injection of the drug allows diabetics to enjoy life without experiencing discomfort caused by a high sugar content in the blood. What distinguishes this type of insulin preparations from others and what kinds of insulin long-lasting exist - about this and talk.

The main difference between insulin in this case is that the effect of the drug continues sometimes more than 24 hours.

In addition, all types of long-acting insulin in their composition contain chemical catalysts that ensure long-term work of the drug. They also delay the absorption of sugars. The therapeutic effect occurs approximately in 4-6 hours, and the duration of action can be up to 36 hours.

Long-acting insulins: what kinds exist

The most commonly prescribed medicines are "Determit" and "Glargin". Their main difference is a uniform decrease in blood sugar levels.

Insulins with a long period of action are also drugs "Ultradard", "Ultralente-Iletin-1", "Khumininsulin", "Ultralong", etc.

Medicines are prescribed by the attending physician, which further helps to avoid various troubles in the form of side effects.

Use and storage of the drug

Insulin of this type can be injected exclusively by injection. Only getting into the body in this way, it starts to work. The injection is placed in the region of the forearm, buttock or thigh.

Before use, the vial should be shaken to ensure that the mixture inside it has a uniform consistency. After that it is ready for use.

The drug is stored under the same conditions as short-acting insulin. Such a temperature regime prevents the formation of flakes and granulation of the mixture, as well as the oxidation of the preparation.

Insulin is injected alone, sometimes twice within 24 hours.

The origin of insulin

Differences in insulin - not only in the time of action, but also in the origin. Excrete animal preparations and insulin, identical to the human.

For the preparation of drugs from the first category, pancreas of pigs, as well as of cattle is used. The biological structure of insulin derived from pig organs is most suitable for humans. The difference in this case is quite insignificant - just one amino acid.

But the best drugs are, of course, human insulins, which are used most often. Production means in two ways:

1. The first way is to replace one inappropriate amino acid. In this case, a semi-synthetic insulin is produced.
2. In the second method of production of the preparation, an E. coli is used that can synthesize a protein. This will already be a biosynthetic agent.

Preparations similar to human insulin have a number of advantages:

• To obtain the necessary therapeutic effect, lower doses are required;
• Development of lipodystrophy is relatively infrequent;
• The allergy to preparations practically is not observed.

Degree of cleaning

Depending on the degree of purification the drugs are divided into:

• Traditional;
• Monopic;
• Monocomponent.

Traditional insulin refers to the very first insulin preparations. They contained in their composition a huge number of protein impurities, which became the cause of frequent allergic reactions. Currently, the production of such drugs is significantly reduced.

Monopic insulin products have a very small amount of impurities (within acceptable limits). But monocomponent insulin is almost perfectly clean, because the amount of unnecessary impurities is even lower than the lower limit.

The main differences between "short" and "long" insulins

As you can see, the types of insulin (the table clearly shows this) differ in their main indicators. And these features must be taken into account.

We examined all available types of insulin and their effect on the human body. We hope that the information turned out to be useful. Be healthy!