Translations:Insulin analog/15/en

Unmodified human and porcine insulins tend to complex with zinc in the blood, forming hexamers. Insulin in the form of a hexamer will not bind to its receptors, so the hexamer has to slowly equilibrate back into its monomers to be biologically useful. Hexameric insulin delivered subcutaneously is not readily available for the body when insulin is needed in larger doses, such as after a meal (although this is more a function of subcutaneously administered insulin, as intravenously dosed insulin is distributed rapidly to the cell receptors, and therefore, avoids this problem). Zinc combinations of insulin are used for slow release of basal insulin. Basal insulin support is required throughout the day representing about 50% of daily insulin requirement, the insulin amount needed at mealtime makes up for the remaining 50%. Non hexameric insulins (monomeric insulins) were developed to be faster acting and to replace the injection of normal unmodified insulin before a meal. There are phylogenetic examples for such monomeric insulins in animals.