Impulse Response Model in Reconstruction of Insulin Secretion by Deconvolution: Role of Input Design in the Identification Experiment

Insulin secretion rate (ISR) in vivo can be reconstructed by deconvolution of plasma concentration of C-peptide (CP), a peptide co-secreted with insulin but not extracted by the liver and exhibiting linear kinetics. Deconvolution requires the knowledge of the CP impulse response. A two exponential model is usually chosen to describe the CP impulse response but three exponential and one exponential models have also been used. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of the CP impulse response model order in reconstructing ISR by deconvolution in three standard physiological/clinical situations: ultradian oscillations, rapid pulses, and biphasic response to a glucose stimulus. By resorting to simulation, we first show that, in each situation, the validity of impulse response models with different orders depends on the input chosen in the impulse response identification experiment. Real data are then used which support the simulation results.