Glucagon release: paradoxical stimulation by glucose during calcium deprivation.

During calsium deprivation, the rate of glucagon release by the isolated perfused rat pancreas is positively related to the glucose concentration of the perfusion medium. It is suggested that such a paradoxical behavior, which is reminiscent of the abnormality of glucagon secretion recently disclosed in diabetic subjects, results from a perturbation in the normal structural and functional bridging between pancreatic alpha and beta cells.

Interference of glycogenolysis with glycolysis in pancreatic islets from glucose-infused rats.

When pancreatic islets isolated from rats infused for 48-72 h with a hypertonic solution of D-glucose were incubated for two successive periods of 10 min each, in the presence first of 16.7 mM and then 2.8 mM D-[U-14C]glucose, the total output of L-lactic acid during the second incubation was as high as that recorded during the first incubation, while the specific radioactivity of L-lactic acid dramatically decreased during the second incubation. In islets from normoglycemic rats, however, the total output of L-lactic acid decreased and its specific radioactivity modestly increased as the concentration of D-glucose was lowered from 16.7 to 2.8 mM. Such contrasting results indicate that in the glycogen-rich islets isolated from glucose-infused rats, the fall in extracellular D-glucose concentration was not accompanied by a parallel fall in glycolytic flux, the decreased utilization of exogenous D-[U-14C]glucose coinciding with stimulation of glycogenolysis. This unusual metabolic situation also coincided with a transient and paradoxical stimulation of insulin release in response to the decrease in extracellular D-glucose concentration. It is proposed, therefore, that the interference of glycogenolysis with glycolysis in pancreatic islets from glucose-infused rats participates in the paradoxical changes in insulin output which represent a typical feature of B-cell glucotoxicity.

Stimulus-secretion coupling of arginine-induced insulin release. Functional response of islets to L-arginine and L-ornithine.

L-Arginine and L-ornithine stimulate insulin release from pancreatic islets exposed to D-glucose. This coincides with an increased outflow of 86Rb and 45Ca from prelabelled islets and an increased net uptake of 45Ca by the islets. In the presence of D-glucose, L-lysine stimulates insulin secretion to the same extent as L-arginine or L-ornithine, but the hormonal release is not further enhanced by combinations of these cationic amino acids. L-Arginine or L-ornithine failed to enhance insulin release evoked by either L-leucine or 2-ketoisocaproate. The inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase D,L-alpha-difluoromethyl ornithine failed to affect the metabolism and insulinotropic action of D-glucose in pancreatic islets, and only caused a partial inhibition of the secretory response to either L-arginine or L-ornithine. The latter amino acids inhibited modestly but significantly D-glucose utilization and oxidation by pancreatic islets. These and complementary findings suggest that the secretory response to L-arginine and L-ornithine is not attributable to any major change in the overall oxidative catabolism of nutrients, but involves mainly a biophysical component, such as the depolarization of the plasma membrane by these cationic amino acids.

The role of calcium in glucagon release. Studies with verapamil.

The role of calcium transport into the pancreatic A2-cell in release of glucagon was studied in the perfused in vitro rat pancreas exposed to the organic calcium-antagonist verapamil (10 and 20 microns). As judged by the inhibitory effect of verapamil, a sufficient influx of calcium was required for glucagon release to be stimulated by either arginine (10 mM) or a lowering of the glucose concentration from 16.6 to 3.3 mM. However, such was not the case for glucose to inhibit the release of glucagon or when the A-2-cell was established in a stimulated state during prolonged exposure to a low, 3.3 mM, glucose concentration. These findings suggest that the role of inwardly directed transport of calcium in the secretory process of the A2-cell is of a complex nature, being dependent on the type of stimulus employed (arginine or glucose) and, in the case of glucose, on the static or dynamic state of the cell. The intimate mechanisms by which calcium exerts such complex effects on the secretory process in the A2-cell remain to be elucidated.

Opposite effects of D-glucose and a nonmetabolized analogue of L-leucine on respiration and secretion in insulin-producing tumoral cells (RINm5F).

D-Glucose increased the cytosolic NADH/NAD+ ratio (but not the cytosolic NADPH/NADP+ ratio), augmented O2 uptake, raised the ATP/ADP ratio, decreased 86Rb outflow, and stimulated insulin release in tumoral insulin-producing cells of the RINm5F line. L-Leucine and 4-methyl-2-oxopentanoate also stimulated insulin secretion. In the RINm5F cells, as in normal islet cells, the nonmetabolized analogue of L-leucine, 2-aminobicyclo[2,2,1]heptane-2-carboxylic acid (BCH), activated glutamate dehydrogenase, augmented L-[U-14C]glutamine oxidation, and induced a more reduced state of cytosolic redox couples. However, in sharp contrast to either its effect in normal islet cells or that of D-glucose in the tumoral cells, BCH severely decreased O2 uptake, lowered the ATP/ADP ratio, increased 86Rb outflow, and inhibited insulin release in the RINm5F cells. These findings are interpreted to support the concept that the rate of ATP generation represents an essential determinant of the secretory response of insulin-producing cells to nutrient secretagogues.

Mode of action of clonidine upon islet function: dissociated effects upon the time course and magnitude of insulin release.

Clonidine (0.08 to 80.0 ng/ml) caused a dose-related inhibition of glucose-stimulated insulin release, but failed to affect glucose oxidation, glucose-stimulated 45Ca net uptake, and adenylate cyclase activity in isolated rat islets. Phentolamine antagonized the effect of clonidine upon insulin release. Despite profound inhibition of insulin secretion, the drug failed to affect the time course for the changes evoked by glucose in either 45Ca fractional outflow rate from perfused islets or insulin release from the isolated perfused pancreas. The latter changes were multiphasic, revealing an initial secretory peak, a period of low secretory activity, and a second secretory elevation before establishing a period characterized by a steadily and slowly increasing insulin output. In the clonidine-treated islets, the secretory rate was not significantly different from the basal value during the period after the initial secretory response. Thus, despite continuous stimulation with glucose, insulin release appears as a discontinuous phenomenon, even when little insulin is secreted during the initial phase of stimulation.

Impairment of glycerol phosphate shuttle in islets from rats with diabetes induced by neonatal streptozocin.

In islets from adult rats injected with streptozocin during the neonatal period, the oxidative and secretory responses to D-glucose are more severely affected than those evoked by L-leucine. A possible explanation for such a preferential defect was sought by comparing the rate of aerobic glycolysis, taken as the sum of D-[3,4-14C]glucose conversion to labeled CO2, pyruvate, and amino acid, with the total glycolytic flux, as judged from the conversion of D-[5-3H]glucose to 3H2O. A preferential impairment of aerobic relative to total glycolysis was found in islets from diabetic rats incubated at either low or high D-glucose concentration. This coincided in islet mitochondria of diabetic rats with a severe decrease in both the basal (no-Ca2+) generation of 3H2O from L-[2-3H]glycerol-3-phosphate and the Ca2(+)-induced increment in [3H]glycerophosphate detritiation. The mitochondria of diabetic rats were also less efficient than those of control animals in generating 14CO2 from [1-14C]-2-ketoglutarate. The diabetes-induced alteration of 2-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase in islet mitochondria was less marked, however, than that of the FAD-linked glycerophosphate dehydrogenase and was not associated with any change in responsiveness to Ca2+. Sonicated islet mitochondria of diabetic rats displayed normal to slightly elevated glutamate dehydrogenase activity. We propose, therefore, that the preferential impairment of the oxidative and secretory responses of islet cells to D-glucose in this experimental model of diabetes may be at least partly attributable to an altered transfer of reducing equivalents into the mitochondria as mediated by the glycerol phosphate shuttle.

Effect of K+ deprivation and ouabain upon glucagon release.

The effects of K+ depletion and ouabain (0.1, 0.5, and 1 mM) on glucagon and insulin release from the in vitro perfused rat pancreas were studied in the absence or presence of arginine (10 mM). In the absence of arginine, K+ depletion resulted in an inhibition of glucagon release, both at a low (2.8 mM) and a higher (8.3 mM) concentration of glucose, whereas ouabain enhanced glucagon secretion. In the presence of arginine, K+ deprivation induced limited and short lived oscillations in the rate of glucagon release at both low and high glucose levels. In the presence of arginine, ouabain induced first a short lived stimulation and, thereafter, a severe and sustained inhibition of glucagon release. The restoration of the normal K+ concentration or the removal of ouabain was followed by a marked and transient inhibition of glucagon release which was most prominent in the presence of arginine. In agreement with previous investigations, K+ deprivation or ouabain facilitated insulin release evoked by glucose and/or arginine. The results suggest that a primary alteration in K+ availability and/or transport affects in a dual manner the release of glucagon, depending on environmental factors such as the type of stimulus used to activate the secretory process.

Calcium deprivation enhances glucagon release in the presence of 2-ketoisocaproate.

The effect of calcium deprivation upon glucagon and insulin release was studied in the rat pancreas perfused in the presence of 2-ketoisocaproate (10 mM). Control perfusions were conducted in the presence of glucose (11.1 mM). In the presence of 2-ketoisocaproate, the decrease in the extracellular concentration of calcium provoked a dramatic, but reversible, enhancement of glucagon release. Such a secretory response was similar in pattern to that seen upon calcium omission in the presence of glucose. Bio-Gel P-30 chromatographic studies showed that only true glucagon (mol wt, 3500) was liberated in the pancreatic effluent during the period of calcium deprivation. On the other hand, the secretion of insulin induced by 2-ketoisocaproate was, like that elicited by glucose, markedly inhibited upon the decrease in extracellular calcium concentration (80% and 65% inhibition, respectively). The results are interpreted in support of the hypothesis that calcium may play an inhibitory role in the control of glucagon release. It is suggested that such a role is somehow linked to the metabolism of exogenous nutrients in the A2 cells.

Multiple effects of leucine on glucagon, insulin, and somatostatin secretion from the perfused rat pancreas.

The effects of increasing concentrations of leucine (0.2, 2.0, and 15.0 mmol/liter) on glucagon secretion from the perfused rat pancreas were examined at various glucose levels (0, 3.3, or 8.3 mmol/liter) and in the absence or presence of either arginine (5.0 mmol/liter) or glutamine (10.0 mmol/liter). At a low glucose concentration (3.3 mmol/liter), leucine caused a dose-related biphasic increase in glucagon output in the absence of arginine, but only a transient increase in the presence of the latter amino acid. These positive responses were markedly reduced and, on occasion, abolished at a high glucose concentration (8.3 mmol/liter). Moreover, at a low glucose concentration (3.3 mmol/liter) and in the presence of arginine, the highest concentration of leucine (15.0 mmol/liter) provoked a sustained and reversible inhibition of glucagon release. Likewise, leucine (15.0 mmol/liter) reversibly inhibited glucagon secretion evoked by glutamine in the absence of glucose. Thus, leucine exerted a dual effect on the secretion of glucagon, the inhibitory effect of leucine prevailing at a high concentration of the branched chain amino acid and when glucagon secretion was already stimulated by arginine or glutamine. At a physiological concentration (0.2 mmol/liter), however, leucine was a positive stimulus for glucagon release, especially in the absence of another amino acid. Concomitantly, leucine was always a positive stimulus for both insulin and somatostatin secretion. The intimate mechanisms involved in the dual effect of leucine on glucagon secretion remain to be elucidated.

Enzymic and metabolic anomalies in islets of diabetic rats: relationship to B cell mass.

A preferential impairment of the pancreatic B cell secretory response to D-glucose occurs in adult rats injected with streptozotocin during the neonatal period. Three possible explanations for such a preferential defect were investigated in the present study. First, the time course for 3-O-methyl-D-glucose uptake by islets suggested that the anomaly in hexose transport was mainly attributable to a decrease in the space accessible to the D-glucose analog commensurate with the decrease in B cell mass, rather than to a delayed equilibration of hexose concentration across the B cell plasma membrane. Second, the activity of glucose-6-phosphatase was found to be equally low in islets from diabetic and control rats, ruling out the futile cycling between D-glucose and D-glucose 6-phosphate as a cause for the preferential alteration of the secretory response to the hexose. Third, the activity of flavine adenine dinucleotide-linked glycerophosphate dehydrogenase was found to be decreased to a greater relative extent than the B cell mass. This coincided with an impaired generation of 3HOH from L-[2-3H] glycerol in intact islets. It is proposed, therefore, that an altered circulation in the glycerol phosphate shuttle may play a major role in the impaired process of glucose-stimulated insulin release in this model of noninsulin-dependent diabetes.

Effects of L-leucine, its 2-keto acid metabolite and its non-metabolized analogue on rat tumoral islet cell function.

L-Leucine and 2-ketoisocaproate stimulated insulin release from perifused rat tumoral islet cells (RINm5F line). The secretory response coincided with an increase in the intracellular ATP/ADP ratio, a stimulation of 45Ca outflow from cells perifused in the presence of extracellular Ca2+, and an increase in 32P efflux from cells prelabelled with radioactive orthophosphate. In contrast to D-glucose, however, L-leucine or 2-ketoisocaproate failed to decrease 86Rb outflow, to inhibit 45Ca outflow from cells perifused in the absence of Ca2+ and to enhance the labelling of inositol-containing phospholipids in cells exposed to myo-[2-3H]inositol. These findings suggest that D-glucose, L-leucine and 2-ketoisocaproate exert dissimilar effects on the subcellular distribution of adenine nucleotides and/or 86Rb. The non-metabolized analogue of L-leucine, 2-aminobicyclo[2.2.1]heptane-2-carboxylic acid (BCH), also caused an initial stimulation of insulin release and 32P efflux, but this was soon followed by a severe and irreversible inhibition of insulin output, associated with a permanent enhancement of 86Rb outflow. The dual ionic and secretory response to BCH is interpreted in the light of its dual effect on the catabolism of endogenous amino and fatty acids, and raises the view that BCH could be used to interfere with the function of insulinoma cells.

Pancreatic islet response to dicarboxylic acid esters in rats with type 2 diabetes: enzymatic, metabolic and secretory aspects.

This study aimed to compare the metabolic and secretory responses of pancreatic islets from animals with non-insulin-dependent diabetes to D-glucose with the effects of the methyl esters of succinic acid (SME) and glutamic acid (GME). The insulin secretory response to D-glucose was impaired in islets from rats with diabetes which was either inherited (Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rats) or acquired (streptozotocin-treated (STZ) rats). This coincided with a preferential alteration of oxidative relative to total glycolysis in intact islets and a selective defect of FAD-linked mitochondrial glycerophosphate dehydrogenase (m-GDH) in islet homogenates. This enzymatic defect was also found in purified B cells from STZ rats. It contrasted both with unaltered activities of glutamate dehydrogenase and succinate dehydrogenase in the islets of diabetic animals and with a normal or even increased activity of m-GDH in the livers of GK and STZ rats. The oxidation of [1,4-14C]SME and [U-14C]GME appeared decreased in islets of GK or STZ animals when compared with control rats, but no significant difference between control and diabetic rats was observed when the oxidative data were expressed relative to the rate of [U-14C]GME hydrolysis. Nevertheless, the absolute values for insulin release evoked by a non-metabolized analogue of L-leucine (BCH), by SME and by the association of BCH with either SME or GME were invariably lower in islets of GK and STZ rats than in those of control animals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Enhancement by succinic acid dimethyl ester of insulin release evoked by D-glucose and glimepiride in the perfused pancreas of normoglycemic and hyperglycemic rats.

The present study deals with the insulinotropic action of the dimethyl ester of succinic acid (SAD), considered as a potential tool for the treatment of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. In the perfused pancreas prepared from either euglycemic rats or animals first infused for 48 hours with a solution of D-glucose, SAD (10 mM) markedly enhanced insulin output evoked by a high concentration of D-glucose (16.7 mM), whether in the absence or presence of glimepiride (0.5 microM). The succinate ester failed, however, to affect glucagon secretion. Thus, SAD indeed displays favourable attributes for stimulation of insulin release in type 2 diabetes, with emphasis on its insulinotropic efficiency at high concentrations of D-glucose in an animal model of B-cell glucotoxicity.

Stimulus-secretion coupling of arginine-induced insulin release. Resistance of arginine- and ornithine-stimulated glucagon and insulin release to D,L-alpha-difluoromethylornithine.

In the isolated perfused rat pancreas, D,L-difluoromethylornithine, tested at a concentration of 3 mmol/L, failed to affect the release of glucagon and insulin caused, over 15 min stimulation, by either L-arginine or L-ornithine (2.0, 5.0 or 10.0 mmol/L) in the presence of either 3.3 or 5.6 mmol/L D-glucose. The inhibition of ornithine decarboxylase also failed to affect the release of glucagon provoked by either L-leucine (2 or 3 mmol/L) or L-glutamine (2 mmol/L) and the secretion of insulin stimulated by a rise in glucose concentration from 5.6 to 10.6 mmol/L. These data are interpreted to suggest that the rapid generation of polyamines from either L-arginine or L-ornithine does not play any significant role in the immediate glucagonotropic and insulinotropic action of these cationic amino acids.

Failure of human and mouse leptin to affect insulin, glucagon and somatostatin secretion by the perfused rat pancreas at physiological glucose concentration.

In isolated perfused pancreas from normal rats, a rise in d-glucose concentration from 3.3 to 8.3 mM provoked a rapid phasic stimulation of both insulin and somatostatin secretion and rapid fall in glucagon output, these changes being reversed when the concentration of the hexose was brought back to its initial low level. In the presence of 8.3 mM d-glucose, the administration of either human or mouse leptin (10 nM in both cases) for 15 min failed to affect significantly the perfusion pressure and release of the three hormones. It is concluded that leptin does not exert any major immediate and direct effect upon pancreatic insulin, glucagon and somatostatin secretion, at least at the physiological concentration of d-glucose normally found in the plasma of fed rats.

Study of hexose transport, glycerol phosphate shuttle and Krebs cycle in islets of adult rats injected with streptozotocin during the neonatal period.

At 3-4 degrees C, the transport of 3-O-methyl-D-glucose (30 mM) was severely impaired in islets prepared from adult rats injected with streptozotocin during the neonatal period. However, at 37 degrees C, the first and second phase of glucose-stimulated insulin release were decreased to the same relative extent in perifused islets of diabetic, as compared to control, animals. Moreover, the time-related increase in the oxidative response of the islets to 16.7 mM D-glucose was less pronounced in diabetic than control rats. The activity of the mitochondrial FAD-linked glycerophosphate dehydrogenase in islet homogenates of diabetic rats only represented one-fifth of that found in control rats, whereas the activity of the cytosolic NAD-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase was comparable in both types of rats. This coincided with the fact that a rise in D-glucose concentration from 2.8 to 16.7 mM failed to increase significantly L-[2-3H]glycerol conversion to 3HOH in islets from diabetic rats, in contrast to the situation found in control animals. The activity of 2-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase in islet homogenates when expressed per microgram protein was not different in control and diabetic rats. Likewise, the ratio between D-[6-14C]glucose oxidation and D-[3,4-14C]glucose oxidation and the capacity of either a non-metabolized analog of L-leucine or 3-phenylpyruvate to preferentially stimulated D-[6-14C]glucose oxidation relative to D-[5-3H]glucose utilization were both unaffected in islets from diabetic rats. These findings argue against the existence of a primary defect in the Krebs cycle of diabetic rats. It is proposed that, despite an obvious alteration of the hexose transport system in the islet cells of diabetic rats, the preferential impairment of the B-cell secretory response to D-glucose, as distinct from other secretagogues, in this model of non-insulin-dependent diabetes is mainly attributable to the low activity of FAD-linked glycerophosphate dehydrogenase, resulting in a decreased metabolic flow through the glycerol phosphate shuttle and a reduced rate of aerobic glycolysis.

Perturbation of pancreatic islet function in glucose-infused rats.

The secretory behavior of insulin- and glucagon-producing cells was found to be perturbed in isolated perfused pancreases removed from rats infused with hypertonic solutions of glucose for 48 hours. The anomalies included a high basal release of insulin and a paradoxical increase in insulin output and decrease in glucagon release in response to a fall in D-glucose concentration. Likewise, in isolated islets prepared from the glucose-infused rats, L-arginine or theophylline stimulated insulin release at a low ambient concentration of D-glucose, at variance with the situation found in islets removed from normal rats. These secretory perturbations could not be attributed to any obvious defect in either the transport of D-glucose into islet cells or its further utilization and oxidation, but coincided with the abnormal accumulation of glycogen in the B-cell. It is proposed that the latter anomaly may play a role in the altered dynamics of insulin release found in animals or patients with long-term hyperglycemia.

Anomeric specificity of the insulin and glucagon secretory responses to D-glucose in lean and obese Zucker rats.

The perfused pancreas of lean and obese Zucker rats was exposed, in the presence of L-leucine, to the anomers of D-glucose, which were administered on four successive occasions in the alpha/beta/alpha/beta or beta/alpha/beta/alpha sequence. In 5 lean and 6 obese rats, alpha-D-glucose was more efficient than beta-D-glucose in both stimulating insulin secretion and suppressing glucagon release. Although D-glucose evoked a greater release of insulin and, during prolonged exposure to the hexose, a less pronounced suppression of glucagon secretion in obese than lean rats, the anomeric specificity of these secretory responses was not different in the two groups of animals. In one lean rat, however, alpha-D-glucose, while efficiently stimulating insulin release, failed on two occasions to inhibit glucagon secretion. This isolated observation raises the possibility that the anomeric specificity of functional events evoked by D-glucose in the endocrine pancreas may occasionally be perturbed.

Effect of C-peptide on insulin and glucagon release by isolated perfused rat pancreas.

Administration of rat C-peptide (0.1 mumol/l) to isolated rat pancrease failed to inhibit insulin release induced by a high concentration of D-glucose (11.1 mmol/l) but prevented the progressive increase in insulin output otherwise observed during prolonged perfusion in the presence of 3.3 mmol/l glucose and 5.0 mmol/l L-arginine. In these experiments, C-peptide failed to affect glucagon output. The findings suggest that in suitable conditions C-peptide can inhibit insulin release.