Question

How was Insulin obtained before the advent of rDNA technology? What were the problems encountered?

Answer 1

Sources of insulin:
Before the introduction of rDNA technology, insulin was isolated from the pancreas of slaughtered pigs and cattles.


Problems:
Problems associated with insulin from pigs and cattles are as follows:

• The insulin isolated from slaughtered pigs and cattles are non-human sources.The animal insulin elicited immune responses in humans, resulting in allergies.
• It gave a very small quantity of insulin, therefore insulin therapy became very costly.