Why does a lizard spit part make medicine last longer?
The C-terminal extension of exendin-4 provides additional metabolic stability when added to GLP-1, while there is minimal effect of truncating exendin-4 in anaesthetized pigs.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists tested how long different sugar-control medicines last in pigs. One medicine comes from a lizard's spit and lasts longer than the body's own version. They tried adding a special tail from the lizard medicine to the human version and saw it lasted longer. But cutting off that tail from...
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
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Evidence Score
A snapshot of a population at a single point in time. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine the direction of cause and effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists tested how long different sugar-control medicines last in pigs. One medicine comes from a lizard's spit and lasts longer than the body's own version. They tried adding a special tail from the lizard medicine to the human version and saw it lasted longer. But cutting off that tail from...
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 514 / 44
Evidence Score
A snapshot of a population at a single point in time. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine the direction of cause and effect.
Publication
Authors
Simonsen L, Holst JJ, Madsen K, Deacon CF
Related Content
Claims (4)
In pigs under anesthesia, adding a small piece from a lizard hormone to a blood sugar hormone makes it last much longer in the body.
Cutting off the end of a hormone called exendin-4 doesn’t make it break down faster in anesthetized pigs, so that part probably doesn’t matter much for how long the hormone lasts in their bodies.
A chemical from Gila monster spit lasts longer in the body than a natural hormone because it doesn’t break down as quickly, so it keeps working longer to control blood sugar.
In pigs under anesthesia, certain diabetes-related peptides like exendin-4 are removed from the body only by the kidneys, while others like GLP-1 are cleared by both the kidneys and other body tissues — showing they leave the body in different ways.