Not your own body produced. I mean the stuff given to inject yourself.
I've been told it's from pigs. Is that true?
I've been told it's from pigs. Is that true?
Where does insulin come from?
- Thread starter Marzeater
- Start Date
An extract:
Where Does Commercial Insulin Come From?
The first successful insulin preparations came from cows (and later pigs). The pancreatic islets and the insulin protein contained within them were isolated from animals slaughtered for food in a similar but more complex fashion than was used by our doctor and med-student duo. The bovine (cow) and porcine (pig) insulin were purified, bottled, and sold. Bovine and porcine insulin worked very well (and still do!) for the vast majority of patients, but some could develop an allergy or other types of reactions to the foreign protein (a foreign protein is a protein which is not native to humans). In the 1980's technology had advanced to the point where we could make human insulin. The advantage would be that human insulin would have a much lower chance of inducing a reaction because it is not a foreign protein (all humans have the exact same insulin, so we do not "see" this as a foreign protein). The technology which made this approach possible was the development of recombinant DNA techniques. In simple terms, the human gene which codes for the insulin protein was cloned (copied) and then put inside of bacteria. A number of tricks were performed on this gene to make the bacteria want to use it to constantly make insulin. Big vats of bacteria now make tons of human insulin. From this, pharmaceutical companies can isolate pure human insulin.
The full article here.
http://www.endocrineweb.com/diabetes/2insulin.html
Where Does Commercial Insulin Come From?
The first successful insulin preparations came from cows (and later pigs). The pancreatic islets and the insulin protein contained within them were isolated from animals slaughtered for food in a similar but more complex fashion than was used by our doctor and med-student duo. The bovine (cow) and porcine (pig) insulin were purified, bottled, and sold. Bovine and porcine insulin worked very well (and still do!) for the vast majority of patients, but some could develop an allergy or other types of reactions to the foreign protein (a foreign protein is a protein which is not native to humans). In the 1980's technology had advanced to the point where we could make human insulin. The advantage would be that human insulin would have a much lower chance of inducing a reaction because it is not a foreign protein (all humans have the exact same insulin, so we do not "see" this as a foreign protein). The technology which made this approach possible was the development of recombinant DNA techniques. In simple terms, the human gene which codes for the insulin protein was cloned (copied) and then put inside of bacteria. A number of tricks were performed on this gene to make the bacteria want to use it to constantly make insulin. Big vats of bacteria now make tons of human insulin. From this, pharmaceutical companies can isolate pure human insulin.
The full article here.
http://www.endocrineweb.com/diabetes/2insulin.html
kewgirl
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 678
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Insulin
Hi Marzeater
There are currently 3 Types of Insulin available in the UK. Then within each type there are a variety of insulin’s, which differ in the way they act and/or how long they last.
Animal Insulin
Human Synthetic Insulin
Genetically Modified (GM) Synthetic Analogues.
Animal insulin is extracted from the pancreases of dead pigs (Porcine Insulin) and cattle (Bovine / Beef Insulin). Following extraction they are highly purified. Animal insulin is the oldest type of insulin in use.
However……in the 1920’s to overcome the shortage of beef insulin whale (as in the large mammals that swim in the sea not the country) insulin was also manufactured. :shock:
Examples in use today: Hypurin Porcine & Bovine Insulin, Hypurin Bovine Lente & Hypurin Bovine Protamine Zinc Insulin (PZI).
Human Synthetic Insulin is not extracted from dead humans!
It is made in the laboratory using recombinant DNA technology based on the DNA structure of insulin that human pancreases secrete.
Human insulin is grown in the lab inside common bacteria. The bacteria Escherichia coli or E-Coli is by far the most widely used type of bacterium, but yeast cells are also used.
Human synthetic insulin was developed to make insulin more available world wide.
There were concerns that the supply for insulin globally would outstrip the supply of animal insulin, which has in fact not happened.
Examples in use today: Actrapid, Humalin I, Insulatard, Insuman
GM Synthetic Analogues
The newest kids on the block! Manufactured in the laboratory by modifying the chemical structure of human synthetic insulin so that the resulting compound has different chemical properties to human synthetic insulin. Insulin analogues are therefore man made or artificial products cultivated from deactivated e-coli or bakers yeast cells.
Examples in use today: Apidra, Novorapid, Humalog, Lantus, Levemir
Insulin is like a string of beads and the way in which the beads are linked together and more significantly how they come apart denotes the mode of action for each of the respective types thus some insulin’s begin acting very quickly after injecting and other insulin’s take longer to work.
Some insulin are combined so the short acting & the longer acting component of the insulin are mixed together such as Novomix (analogue), Humalog Mix (analogue), Mixtard (human), Humalin M3 (human), Porcine 30/70 mix (animal).
Human synthetic insulin & GM analogues have differences in their amino acid structure whilst animal insulin has the nearest amino acid structure to human (non synthetic) insulin.
Txx
There are currently 3 Types of Insulin available in the UK. Then within each type there are a variety of insulin’s, which differ in the way they act and/or how long they last.
Animal Insulin
Human Synthetic Insulin
Genetically Modified (GM) Synthetic Analogues.
Animal insulin is extracted from the pancreases of dead pigs (Porcine Insulin) and cattle (Bovine / Beef Insulin). Following extraction they are highly purified. Animal insulin is the oldest type of insulin in use.
However……in the 1920’s to overcome the shortage of beef insulin whale (as in the large mammals that swim in the sea not the country) insulin was also manufactured. :shock:
Examples in use today: Hypurin Porcine & Bovine Insulin, Hypurin Bovine Lente & Hypurin Bovine Protamine Zinc Insulin (PZI).
Human Synthetic Insulin is not extracted from dead humans!
It is made in the laboratory using recombinant DNA technology based on the DNA structure of insulin that human pancreases secrete.
Human insulin is grown in the lab inside common bacteria. The bacteria Escherichia coli or E-Coli is by far the most widely used type of bacterium, but yeast cells are also used.
Human synthetic insulin was developed to make insulin more available world wide.
There were concerns that the supply for insulin globally would outstrip the supply of animal insulin, which has in fact not happened.
Examples in use today: Actrapid, Humalin I, Insulatard, Insuman
GM Synthetic Analogues
The newest kids on the block! Manufactured in the laboratory by modifying the chemical structure of human synthetic insulin so that the resulting compound has different chemical properties to human synthetic insulin. Insulin analogues are therefore man made or artificial products cultivated from deactivated e-coli or bakers yeast cells.
Examples in use today: Apidra, Novorapid, Humalog, Lantus, Levemir
Insulin is like a string of beads and the way in which the beads are linked together and more significantly how they come apart denotes the mode of action for each of the respective types thus some insulin’s begin acting very quickly after injecting and other insulin’s take longer to work.
Some insulin are combined so the short acting & the longer acting component of the insulin are mixed together such as Novomix (analogue), Humalog Mix (analogue), Mixtard (human), Humalin M3 (human), Porcine 30/70 mix (animal).
Human synthetic insulin & GM analogues have differences in their amino acid structure whilst animal insulin has the nearest amino acid structure to human (non synthetic) insulin.
Txx
Kewgirl,
this will give you a chuckle
When I was up in Scotland recently, I got chatting to an old school friend about my recent ill health on synthetic analogues, and how my health and BG control had since improved since changing to pork insulin. She asked me whether you could get insulin from plants!!! :lol:
Maybe that's the next step for synthetic insulin resistant vegetarians!
Jus x
this will give you a chuckle
When I was up in Scotland recently, I got chatting to an old school friend about my recent ill health on synthetic analogues, and how my health and BG control had since improved since changing to pork insulin. She asked me whether you could get insulin from plants!!! :lol:
Maybe that's the next step for synthetic insulin resistant vegetarians!
Jus x
