Importance of the route of insulin delivery to its control of glucose metabolism.

Pancreatic insulin secretion produces an insulin gradient at the liver compared to the rest of the body (approximately 3:1). This physiologic distribution is lost when insulin is injected subcutaneously, causing impaired regulation of hepatic glucose production and whole body glucose uptake, as well as arterial hyperinsulinemia. Thus, the hepatoportal insulin gradient is essential to the normal control of glucose metabolism during both fasting and feeding. Insulin can regulate hepatic glucose production and uptake through multiple mechanisms, but its direct effects on the liver are dominant under physiologic conditions. Given the complications associated with iatrogenic hyperinsulinemia in patients treated with insulin, insulin designed to preferentially target the liver may have therapeutic advantages.