Did pig/calf insulin smell like our current-day insulin?

General
1

I was at the gym today when I smelt something which had me thinking "It smells like insulin"...long story short, it sparked me to wonder some random questions about the smell of insulin.

Like, does real human/animal insulin actually smell like the same way?  Or do the smell we associate with insulin only exist with the laboratory-made insulin analogs?  Do they add that scent themselves so that we can actually notice if it leaks out?

If we took real insulin out of a human or animal and purified it down would it smell the same way? 

And then I realized the people who have experience with cow/pig insulin might be able to say if that stuff smelled like our current day insulins.

Random question, I know, but I couldn't shake it once I started thinking about it.

2

insulin to me smells just like leather so i would assume that even though it is manufactured differently now it would still have the same smell because it has the same effect?

3

i've always thought insulin smells like band-aids. i imagine real insulin would smell HORRIBLE because it's going to be mixed with all sorts of other body fluids, like blood and digestive enzymes. i don't know if anyone has been around when a baby is born... a newborn baby is pretty gooey and stinky. i figure that's what insulin would smell like....

gross.

4

You know, I can't remember...I think I actually still have a bottle of pork (we don't throw ANYTHING out) insulin in the fridge. If it just so happens that I am that much of a freak to actually still have insulin from the 1980's, I will let you know. I don't think I ever really smelled any of the pork insulin...maybe this is because the newer treatment methods use tubings, infusions? To me, the current-day insulin smells acrid, a little like someone who, during the summer, has been camping for over a week (sorry if this is TMI). I actually tasted Regular insulin back when...it burned a little...bleagh...it was foul.

It would make sense to make insulin, especially the rapid insulin, really noticeable, I think. My significant other will tell me that he smells it sometimes, and I have to stop and check my site...and it's funny...he's often right. I don't know about regular, real life, real time insulin, but I suspect that, because it is a hormone, it probably has staying power. It's just a theory, though.

5

Thanks Crochet Nut.  Glad there's someone who has experience with their animal insulin.

[quote user="C"]

i've always thought insulin smells like band-aids. i imagine real insulin would smell HORRIBLE because it's going to be mixed with all sorts of other body fluids, like blood and digestive enzymes. i don't know if anyone has been around when a baby is born... a newborn baby is pretty gooey and stinky. i figure that's what insulin would smell like....

gross.

[/quote]

Yeah, but I was wondering if animal insulin actually smells like what the actual animal hormone smells like since it's made to be so pure, ya know?  Does it smell the same as our stuff?  If human insulin was purified down to only insulin, what would it smell like?    Is what we know the smell of insulin just some manufactured smell?

Would the smell of the animal insulins give us a sense of what insulin really smells like?  Or do the animal insulins contain some of the preservatives and other additives that our current stuff has, which causes it to smell the same as ours?

And I totally agree with the band-aid/leather comparisons.  It smells so manufactured to me. I just wonder if that's just because it's a synthetic molecule made in a laboratory so it's got that real science-y lab smell.

I don't know why the heck I'm so curious about this.

6

I have no answer to your question, but I just thought I'd throw it out there that I hate the smell of insulin. It reminds me of that antiseptic hospital smell. Yuck.

7

I'm not the most keen on the smell, but it also doesn't bother me too badly. However, I dislike when others comment about it around me, as if I could change how my medication (well, hormone) smells :P

8

[quote user="C"]

i've always thought insulin smells like band-aids.

[/quote]

C, My husband says the same thing.

I remember being on both bovine and swine insulin and to tell you the truth they smell the same as the insulin I use now. I couldn't tell you what "real" animal or human insulin smells like, but I can't imagine that it would be a pleasant  smell.

 

9

Yeah, I think I remember them smelling similar too. I was on pork in the 80's. Funny question though! I actually don't mind the smell of insulin myself ... it's just familiar, you know? (Sad!)

10

[quote user="Sarah"]

Yeah, I think I remember them smelling similar too. I was on pork in the 80's. Funny question though! I actually don't mind the smell of insulin myself ... it's just familiar, you know? (Sad!)

[/quote]

Someone with experience!  Thanks!  So...pork insulin smelled the same...so I guess the next question is is that what the insulin our body produces smells like?  Smells awfully chemical-y.

Yeah I've been around the smell of insulin so long that it's second-nature, but the smell definitely catches your attention every time.

11

[quote user="Ideen"]

Someone with experience!  Thanks!  So...pork insulin smelled the same...so I guess the next question is is that what the insulin our body produces smells like?  Smells awfully chemical-y.

Yeah I've been around the smell of insulin so long that it's second-nature, but the smell definitely catches your attention every time.

[/quote]

The key will be for us to find a non-diabetic, cut them open and sniff their pancreas. Volunteers??? I bet it's the additives that smell like chemicals, but there's only one way to find out...

12

human, dog, pig and cow insulin is almost exactly the same.  they decided to use pig and cow pancreases because there were so damn many of them available (from the slaughter houses).   

I don't know if it was the formulation, the actual insulin, or the preservatives that give that band-aid smell, but I can tell you one thing:  The insulin from 1977 made from cows and pigs smell exactly the same as the rDNA human insulin of today.... errr... to me =)

13

[quote user="Joe"]

human, dog, pig and cow insulin is almost exactly the same.  they decided to use pig and cow pancreases because there were so damn many of them available (from the slaughter houses).   

I don't know if it was the formulation, the actual insulin, or the preservatives that give that band-aid smell, but I can tell you one thing:  The insulin from 1977 made from cows and pigs smell exactly the same as the rDNA human insulin of today.... errr... to me =)

[/quote]

So at least two people agree it smells the same as our rDNA stuff.  So real human insulin really smells like that, or they've added something to the insulin that's given it that unique smell for 40+ years.  It just makes me wonder if they're adding something to it, what the heck is it that they're adding that's made it smell so consistent through so many different types of insulins?

The smell is the same whether the insulin is cloudy, clear, acidic, basic, long-acting, short-acting, animal or human-based, or whether it was made 40 years ago, or made today.  I can't imagine a smelly additive being the exact same used in all those different types of insulin...you'd think something would have advanced and changed in the past 40+ years.

I'm leaning toward that actually being the smell of real human insulin.

14

why don't you do a little experiment and tell us your results? your science teachers will be proud.

15

[quote user="Happy Vegan"]

[quote user="C"]

i've always thought insulin smells like band-aids.

[/quote]

C, My husband says the same thing.

I remember being on both bovine and swine insulin and to tell you the truth they smell the same as the insulin I use now. I couldn't tell you what "real" animal or human insulin smells like, but I can't imagine that it would be a pleasant  smell.

 

[/quote]

Hi. You forgot me three people agree :)

 

16

[quote user="C"]

why don't you do a little experiment and tell us your results? your science teachers will be proud.

[/quote]

Ha.  Um no, I'm good.  I want to be a doctor, but I DESPISE the lab.  But if someone else can figure out the answer that would be fabulous haha. 

I'm reading "Think Like a Pancreas" right now so I've got all these random questions popping up in my head that I've never thought about before.  Figured the brilliant minds of Juvenation could peruse and collaborate for an answer.  We're on to something!

17

[quote user="Ideen"]

So at least two people agree it smells the same as our rDNA stuff.  So real human insulin really smells like that, or they've added something to the insulin that's given it that unique smell for 40+ years.  It just makes me wonder if they're adding something to it, what the heck is it that they're adding that's made it smell so consistent through so many different types of insulins?

[/quote]

without trying to start an overreactive OMG, I believe that the aromatic phenol, specifically metacresol and M-cresol, used as both a preservative and as a absoption modifier in insulin for 40 years) is what stinks. 

pure insulin doesn't smell like anything. =)

 

18

I hope this isn't too off topic, has anyone who used animal insulin noticed different reactions from animals after switching? For example, did a family dog find your scent interesting based on what kind of insulin you used?  That to me would suggest a difference too.

19

[quote user="Joe"]

without trying to start an overreactive OMG, I believe that the aromatic phenol, specifically metacresol and M-cresol, used as both a preservative and as a absoption modifier in insulin for 40 years) is what stinks. 

pure insulin doesn't smell like anything. =)

[/quote]

Wow, well that answers it.  I should have come to you from the very start.  Glad to know my assumption was way off. 

So if we got a metacresol/M-cresol free insulin it would no longer have that distinct smell?  Any idea on that?

Where'd you find that information out?  Thanks for the answer!

20

[quote user="Ideen"]

Wow, well that answers it.  I should have come to you from the very start.  Glad to know my assumption was way off. 

So if we got a metacresol/M-cresol free insulin it would no longer have that distinct smell?  Any idea on that?

Where'd you find that information out?  Thanks for the answer!

[/quote]

well the formulation for Humalog, Novolog, and most modern insulins are licensed, must be made exactly the same way every time they are made,  and are part of the drug's copyrights.  A new formulation would mean new applications to the FDA, new testing, new data, new analysis, new approval.  Ordinary drug licenses and approval take many years.

from what I know, metacresol is both a preservative and a absorption modifier for insulin.  Both things affect the efficacy and stability of insulin.  The reason(s) that these are in there are many - but the purpose is a longer shelf life, and reasonable/predictable/repeatable absorption rates.  Its in a family of compounds called aromatic phenols (STINKY) which have a variety of uses.

there is such controversy regarding these preservatives, because if you were to get your hands on pure cresol you would immediately scream "they are putting POISON in our insulin,  ya ya ya ya  etc" because pure cresol IS poison.  It's also a preservative in highly diluted solutions. Pure anything can kill you.  Hell, water can kill you in large quantities.

looking for an insulin without phenols?  I dunno, nothing out there suggests to me that they SHOULD change insulin formulation, but what the heck do I know.  The other thing that crosses my mind is I have been injecting the stuff since '77 and I love it. (naw really - but it has kept me alive 31 years).  PS once upon a time I took a type of insulin that had "fish semen" as a an ingredient...  I guess diabetes ain't for sissies.

where? well I am a process engineer and I help make a variety of stuff for a big pharma company.  I helped build and start up a Gardasil factory last year and I am working on a Varicella (chicken pox) "bulk and purification" factory right now.  I did ask around to the big brained people I work with, and I asked the doctors I know (my Dad and my kid brother) but it's no secret what's in Insulin.... haha  not even when they add fish semen.

cheers