Manufacture and Evaluation of Glucagon Intranasal Preparation for Total Pancreatectomized Patient

The intranasal preparation of glucagon has been used instead of injections in patients with pancreotectomy or hypoglycemia to improve the metabolism of lipids and amino acids and maintain liver function. However, only a few reports were appeared on the evaluation of the quality of the intranasal preparation of glucagon. Therefore, we examined the stability of glucagon in the intranasal preparation and its absorption into a patient with pancreotectomy. Glucagon in the preparation and in the patient's serum were respectively determined by ion-pair high-performance liquid chromatography and with reversed phase column and radioimmunoassay. Two surfactants, sodium glycocholate and sodium caprate, were used as the absorption promoters of glucagon. The residual contents of glucagon in the intranasal preparations with sodium glycocholate and sodium caprate were 93.9±2.5% and 79.8±2.4%, respectively, 7 days after their preparation. Sodium caprate was more effective than sodium glycocholate in the enhancement of glucagon absorption; the AUC0-30min values were respectively 77.8 and 48.2 ng·h/L. Also considering the less irritating character of the preparation added sodium caprate, we selected this preparation in our hospital on the condition that it is renewed every week.