GLP-1 (7-37)

Where it comes from

Made in

L cells of the ileum and colon

Sent out by

Nutrients reaching the lower gut after a meal, alongside the 7-36 amide

Acts on

• Pancreatic beta cells
• Pancreatic alpha cells
• Stomach
• Hypothalamus and brainstem

What it does

• Equal to GLP-1 (7-36 amide) at the receptor ¹
• Cleared as fast, by DPP-4 within minutes
• Counted with the other forms in “total GLP-1” assays ²

In medicine

• The approved GLP-1 medicines are built on this sequence as much as on 7-36: liraglutide and semaglutide end at glycine 37 ¹
• Exenatide and lixisenatide come from a lizard peptide that shares about half the sequence

Beyond the body’s own use

• No trial has compared the two forms in people and no medicine distinguishes them, so everything the evidence says of GLP-1 applies to both ¹
• Assays that measure it apart from the 7-36 amide exist for research. Why the gut makes two forms at all, and whether the ratio between them shifts in disease or after bariatric surgery, is still open ²
• Its working life is as a reference standard, which is how the gap between “total” and “active” GLP-1 numbers in older papers was traced ²