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Proinsulin conversion to insulin was studied using electrically permeabilized rat islets of Langerhans. Using high-performance liquid chromotography separation of radiolabelled islet proteins, we have demonstrated that conversion was dependent upon temperature, sensitive to pH and regulated by MgATP. Ammonium acetate was used to collapse the granular pH gradient, over a pH range of 3·5–7·4. Conversion was optimum at pH 4·5–5·5 and was reduced, but not abolished, at pH 7·4. Ca2+ (10 μm) and 4β-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (500 nm), which are insulin secretagogues in permeabilized islets, caused no significant stimulation of conversion.

Monensin, a univalent ionophore, is a carboxylic acid produced by Streptomyces cinnamonensis. It will complex various alkali-metal ions, but most readily binds Na+. Because of interest in the possible role of Na+ in the regulation of insulin secretion, we examined its effects on several aspects of the metabolism of isolated rat islets of Langerhans. The ionophore inhibited glucose-stimulated insulin release in a concentration-dependent manner, completely inhibiting secretion evoked by 20 mM-glucose at concentrations as low as 0.1 microM in static incubations. In perifusion experiments, both phases of insulin release were equally affected. Monensin (0.1 microM) had no significant effect on glucose oxidation as measured by the generation of 14CO2 from [14C]glucose. Monensin increased the rate of 22Na+ efflux from preloaded islets and net 22Na+ uptake over 30 min, in the absence of changes in islet volume or extracellular space. The ionophore increased the Rb+/K+ permeability of islet cells, as shown by its inhibition of 86Rb+ retention and stimulation of 86Rb+ efflux. At 0.1 microM, monensin abolished glucose-stimulated 45Ca2+ uptake by islets during 5 min incubations, and stimulated 45Ca2+ efflux from preloaded islets perifused with Ca2+-free medium, even in the complete absence of extracellular Na+. Studies of the uptake of 14C-labelled 5,5-dimethyloxazolidine-2,4-dione showed that 0.1 microM-monensin increased net intracellular pH from 7.05 to 7.13. 7 Monensin has widespread, complex, effects on the secretory responses and ion handling by the B cells, which are difficult to interpret in terms solely of actions as a Na+ ionophore.

Infection of DBA2 mice with the M strain of EMC virus was used to study the effects of virusinduced diabetes on the A and B cells of the islets of Langerhans. A transient hypoglycaemia was seen in 48% of mice 2–3 days after infection and probably resulted from increased serum insulin concentrations together with inhibition of glucagon secretion at that time. Islets from hypoglycaemic mice showed no significant alterations from control level in basal or fluoride-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity. Overall, 70% of infected mice became hyperglycaemic with a maximum incidence 6 days after infection. Hyperglycaemia was accompanied by a dramatic reduction in the total pancreatic insulin content and in insulin secretory responses to glucose and theophylline, while A-cell structure and function appeared relatively unaffected in diabetic animals. Basal adenylate cyclase activity was increased in hyperglycaemic mice at 7 days after infection, while fluoride-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity was normal throughout the course of infection. Ultrastructural alterations were observed in a small proportion of B cells from two days after infection and included abnormalities of mitochondrial structure and increased electron opacity of the cytoplasm of affected cells, which subsequently led to complete necrosis. The results suggest that EMC virus specifically affects the B cells of the islets and that disturbances of A cell function may be secondary to B cell damage.

Dynorphin-[1-13], at concentrations of 5.8 × 10−12 to 5.8 × 10−9 M, stimulated insulin secretion from isolated islets of Langerhans of the rat, in medium containing 6 mM glucose. Higher concentrations of dynorphin had no significant effect on secretion. Dynorphin (5.8 × 10−9 M) was unable to initiate insulin release from islets in the presence of 2 mM glucose, or to increase insulin secretion further in the presence of 20 mM glucose or 6 and 12 mM glyceraldehyde. Dynor-phin-induced insulin secretion from islets was blocked by verapamil (5 μM) or by chlorpropamide (72 μM), but not by a mu opiate receptor antagonist, naloxone (0.11 μM), or by ICI 154129, a specific antagonist for the delta receptor (0.25 μM). Dynorphin had no effect on islet somatostatin secretion, under conditions in which insulin secretion was greatly stimulated. Glucose (20 mM) and glyceraldehyde (6 and 12 mM) significantly increased both insulin and somatostatin secretion. Dynorphin (5.8×10−9 M) increased 45Ca2+ uptake into islets, and also increased intracellular islet c-AMP levels. These changes persisted when higher concentrations of dynorphin were used. These results suggest that (1) dynorphin is a very potent stimulus for insulin secretion; (2) dynorphin does not affect somatostatin secretion in static incubations of islets, in the same way as does glucose and glyceraldehyde; (3) dynorphin's effects may involve increased calcium ion movement and can be blocked by verapamil; (4) dynorphin can also increase islet c-AMP, and could thereby modulate the responsiveness of other secretagogues; (5) the actions of dynorphin on insulin secretion are not mediated by delta or mu opiate receptors in islets.

An assay system was devised to estimate the pool size of microtubule subunits in islet cells, and to study the importance of the equilibrium between polymerised microtubules and their subunits in the regulation of insulin release. The assay was based on the observation that colchicine binds specifically and quantitatively to microtubule protein subunits, but not to intact microtubules. Vinblastine and cold treatment, which have been shown to cause disaggregation of microtubules into subunits and to inhibit insulin release from islets, increased the number of colchicine binding subunits. D2O, which promotoes stability of microtubules and increases their number in islet cells, caused a decrease in subunit concentration. These results suggest that changes in the equilibrium between polymerised microtubules and their subunits could be studied by measuring the size of the subunit pool. When insulin release was stimulated, by incubating islets in high glucose concentrations or by increasing the intracellular concentration of cyclic AMP there was a reduction in the content of subunit protein. Conversely, when insulin release was inhibited by removal of calcium from the incubation medium there was a shift in the microtubule subunit equilibrium to give an increase in the number of subunits assayed. These results indicate that changes in the equilibrium between subunits and microtubules may play an important role in regulating rates of insulin secretion.

Islets of Langerhans, isolated from normal or 19-day pregnant rats, were cultured for 20 h at 37 degrees C in tissue culture medium 199. When islets were cultured in medium containing low glucose (5.5 mM), the higher adenylate cyclase activity and insulin secretory responses characteristic of islets from pregnant rats were maintained during the test period of 29 h. Islets from normal and pregnant rats were also cultured for 20 h in medium containing a very high glucose concentration (83.3 mM) in order to load the B cells with glycogen. It was found, after glycogen loading, that, while adenylate cyclase activity increased to a greater extent in islets from pregnant rats than controls, this activity was not increased in proportion to the striking changes in insulin release rate observed in pregnant rat islets. The results show that the difference in insulin secretory response between islets from normal and pregnant rats may be preserved when the islets are cultured for 20 h, and that these differences are enhanced for a variety of reasons after culture of islets in 83.3 mM glucose.

The intracellular processes involved in synthesis, transport and storage of newly synthesized proteins in the rat somatotroph, together with their time course and metabolic requirements, have been investigated in a quantitative electron-microscopic radioautography study of the tissue following pulse labelling with tritium-labelled amino acids and chase incubations in various conditions. Proteins are synthesized initially on the rough-surfaced elements of the endoplasmic reticulum and are transported within 10 min after their synthesis to transitional areas between the rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi complex. Transfer to the Golgi lamellae is achieved, probably via transfer vesicles, within about 60 min after synthesis, while formation of mature storage granules occurs within 2 h following protein synthesis. Further experiments utilizing cycloheximide or ouabain during the chase incubations showed that the intracellular transport of newly synthesized protein and its time course are not significantly affected by inhibitors of protein synthesis, or by inhibition of sodium-potassium dependent ATPase by ouabain. Inhibitors of oxidative phosphorylation (250 µM 2,4-dinitrophenol) or of respiration (10 µM antimycin A) markedly reduced intracellular ATP levels and inhibited the intracellular transport processes. The requirement for ATP appeared to be operative at 2 stages: in the movement of transfer vesicles to the Golgi complex and in the formation of storage granules; possible roles of ATP in these processes are discussed.

1. The concentrations of cyclic AMP were compared in islets of Langerhans isolated from the pancreases of normal female and pregnant rats and were higher in islets in pregnancy. 2. There was also a significant increase in adenylate cyclase activity in homogenates of islets from pregnant rats compared with those from normal rats. 3. Increased cyclic AMP concentration in islets from pregnant rats was reflected in increased protein kinase activity. When the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase activity was increased by 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine this stimulated activity was significantly greater in pregnancy. 4. Insulin-secretion studies with islets from normal and pregnant rats showed that theophylline or 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, which raise intracellular cyclic AMP concentrations, caused a significantly greater insulin secretion in pregnancy. 5. It was also found that in the presence of a glucose concentration too low to stimulate insulin secretion, the latter could be induced if the cyclic AMP concentrations were raised sufficiently with 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine. 6. It is suggested that the higher cyclic AMP concentrations observed in islets in pregnancy mediate the greater insulin-secretory capacity, as well as the greater sensitivity of these islets to low glucose concentrations.

It was possible to vary the replication rate of cells in the islets of Langerhans of adult rats. The rate of incorporation of [3H]thymidine into islet DNA was increased at 12 days of pregnancy to 2·3-fold and at 19 days of pregnancy to 1·3-fold that in control rats. Ovariectomy, which leads to lowered plasma levels of ovarian steroids, induced a significant and unexpected increase in the rate of thymidine incorporation into islets; treatment of ovariectomized rats with 2 μg oestradiol/rat per day for 3 days reversed this upward trend. When islets from normal rats were cultured with certain combinations of steroid hormones including progesterone and oestradiol or with insulin secretagogues, with the exception of glucose, a decreased rate of DNA synthesis was usually found compared with that in control rats. Since treatment with steroid hormones inhibited incorporation of [3H]thymidine into islets from ovariectomized rats and directly reduced incorporation into tissue-cultured islets from normal rats in vitro, it was concluded that increased levels of steroid hormones were not responsible for the higher rate of regeneration of islet cells in pregnant rats. However, a striking correlation between levels of blood glucose in vivo and DNA synthesis in islets in vitro has been observed.

Isolated rat islets of Langerhans which had been pretreated with 200 nM-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) for 20-24 h, a treatment reported in other cell types to deplete cells of protein kinase C activity, were found not to contain detectable Ca2+/phospholipid-dependent protein kinase activity. These islets did not secrete insulin in response to a subsequent exposure to PMA (0.1 or 1 microM) during a 30 min incubation, although insulin secretion could be stimulated by 20 mM-glucose, a response which was enhanced by 20 microM-forskolin. PMA-pretreated islets that had been permeabilized by high-voltage discharge showed unimpaired secretory responses to an increase in Ca2+ concentration, cyclic AMP and forskolin. These results suggest that (i) pretreatment of islets with tumour-promoting phorbol esters may be a useful means of investigating the role of protein kinase C in stimulus-secretion coupling in the pancreatic beta-cell and (ii) protein kinase C may not play an essential role in glucose-induced insulin secretion.

There is much evidence to suggest that intracellular levels of cyclic AMP in endocrine cells may play an important role in determining rates of hormone release, and that many secretagogues influence cyclic AMP levels, and hence rates of secretion, by interaction with receptors which are related to adenylate cyclase, or by inhibition of phosphodiesterase. A mechanism of this type seems to operate during activation of secretion by physiological agents in, for instance, the anterior pituitary (1) and thyroid (2). A widely accepted model for the regulation of hormone secretion is shown in Fig. 1, and i t is the purpose of this paper to determine how far this model is applicable to the regulation of insulin secretion by the B cells of mammalian islets of Langerhans.

The sympathetic nervous system is believed to play a part in the control of insulin release from the pancreatic islets of Langerhans. Stimulation of α-adrenoceptors is thought to inhibit the release of insulin whereas stimulation of β-adrenoceptors enhances insulin release. The present experiments were conducted to establish the existence of β-adrenergic receptors on guinea-pig and rat islet cells and to quantify them using the selective β-adrenergic ligands [3H]dihydroalprenolol (DHA) and [125I]cyanoiodopindolol (CYP). Guinea-pig islets had 62 fmol β-adrenoceptors/mg protein using [3H]DHA, corresponding to 43 700 binding sites/cell and 25 fmol β-adrenoceptors/mg protein using [125I]CYP, corresponding to 17 400 sites/cell. Rat islet cells were found to have 4·6 fmol β-adrenoceptors/mg protein using [125I]CYP, corresponding to 7200 sites/cell. Adenylate cyclase activation exhibited a positive dose–response relationship when exposed to the β-adrenoceptor agonist isoprenaline, with a maximum response (190 ± 21% above basal) at 10 μmol isoprenaline/l. This response was abolished with 1 μmol/l of the β-adrenergic antagonist 1-alprenolol. Insulin secretion in the presence of 10 mmol glucose/l, but in the absence of the α-adrenoceptor blocker phentolamine, was not affected by 10 μmol isoprenaline/l. However, perifusion experiments showed that secretion of insulin from isolated rat islets in the presence of 10 mmol glucose/l was significantly increased (332%) by 10 μmol isoprenaline/l in the presence of 10 μmol phentolamine/l. These results suggest that binding of selective radio-labelled ligands occurs to β-adrenergic receptors on the B cell surface of the islets of Langerhans, and that these receptors are functionally coupled to insulin secretion through modulation of adenylate cyclase activity. J. Endocr. (1986) 111, 263–270

The selective a2 adrenergic antagonist yohimbine has been shown to prevent the noradrenaline induced inhibition of insulin secretion from isolated rat islets of Langerhans, Binding studies utilizing [3H]yohimbine showed specific binding to dispersed rat islet cells with a Kd of 2.9 nM and receptor concentration of 645 fmols/mg protein. The use of chloroquine to inhibit receptor recycling did not affect binding of the ligand. Binding studies and secretion data are consistent with the suggestion that adrenergic receptors of the α2 sub-type may play a dominant role in the regulation of insulin secretion.

(−)-Epicatechin has previously been suggested to rapidly reverse alloxan diabetes in rats. We have assessed the therapeutic value of the compound in two further animal models of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, namely streptozotocin – diabetic rats and the spontaneously diabetic BB/E rat. There was no indication of a reversal of established diabetes in either the streptozotocin-diabetic or the spontaneously diabetic BB/E rats. Moreover, epicatechin also failed to halt the progression of the disease in prediabetic BB/E rats. Earlier claims of the potential use of epicatechin as an antidiabetic agent must therefore be treated with some caution.

One of the central, unresolved problems in our understanding of insulin secretion is the way in which stimulus recognition and its associated metabolic events are translated into the mechanical processes of insulin-storage granule movement and extrusion from the cells by exocytosis. In the present article we have examined the structural organization of the B-cell cytoskeleton in detail and have reviewed how drugs that affect the cytoskeleton alter insulin secretion. Available information about the interactions of tubulin, actin, myosin, and actomyosin with insulin-secretory granules is summarized, and a tentative model is proposed to explain how stimulus-effector system coupling might be achieved.

Progesterone and oestradiol did not alter rates of insulin secretion from isolated rat islets of Langerhans during a 60 min period of incubation in vitro. However, islets isolated from rats which had been injected daily for 15 days with progesterone (5 mg) and oestradiol (5 μg) showed enhanced rates of insulin secretion in response to stimulation by 20 mmol/l glucose or 6 and 20 mmol/l glucose plus 5 mmol/l theophylline. Islets from rats which had been injected with the slow-releasing depot progesterone derivative, hydroxyprogesterone hexanoate, 3 times in 15 days, also showed enhanced rates of insulin release in the absence of any alteration in adenylate cyclase activity. In neither experiment could increased food intake, blood glucose levels or islet insulin content account for the observed changes. The possibility of a direct effect of progesterone on the secretory process was investigated in islets which had been cultured for 20 h with progesterone and oestradiol; these islets were then subjected to a variety of stimuli for secretion. They responded significantly more to glucose (6 or 20 mmol/l) in the presence of theophylline (5 mmol/l), while their insulin content was not significantly different from control islets cultured for a similar period. Islets cultured for 20 h in the presence of progesterone and oestradiol did not show any change in their adenylate cyclase activities. Similarly, direct addition of progesterone and oestradiol to islet homogenates did not alter the adenylate cyclase activity during a 30 minute incubation. These results suggest that progesterone and oestradiol affect insulin secretion directly, by a mechanism which does not involve activation of adenylate cyclase.

1. Insulin biosynthesis in isolated rat islets of Langerhans was determined by the incorporation of [3H]leucine into newly synthesized islet proteins. Anti-insulin serum covalently coupled to a solid phase (CNBr-activated Sepharose 4B) was used to separate the immunoreactive proinsulin and insulin from other islet proteins. This method was applied to a study of the regulation of insulin biosynthesis in isolated rat islets of Langerhans during pregnancy, and immediately after a period of food deprivation. 2. Islets isolated from pregnant rats showed an increased basal rate of synthesis compared with the non-pregnant controls. In addition, they showed a significant increase in biosynthesis of proinsulin and insulin in comparison with the normal islets over a range of glucose concentrations of 2–20mm. 3. Addition of the phosphodiesterase inhibitor 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine significantly increased the insulin-synthetic response of normal islets over the glucose range 5–20mm, so that their glucose response approached that of islets from pregnant rats. 4. Normal female rates were injected with a long-acting progesterone derivative (hydroxyprogesterone hexanoate), to investigate the role of progesterone on the increased insulin biosynthesis observed in islets in pregnancy. There appeared to be no marked difference in insulin biosynthesis between the islets from the progesterone-injected and control rats in the presence of 2mm- or 6mm-glucose alone. However, in the presence of 4mm- or 6mm-glucose and 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine there was a significant increase in insulin biosynthesis in the progesterone-treated animals. 5. Total islet protein biosynthesis was determined by the incorporation of [3H]leucine into trichloroacetic acid-precipitable islet proteins. Islets isolated from normal rats showed a 1.6-fold increase in incorporation over the glucose concentration range 2–20mm, and this value remained unchanged during starvation; however, rates of incorporation were significantly raised in islets isolated from pregnant rats in the presence of 20mm-glucose. 6. Islets from starved and fed control rats were incubated in the presence of increasing concentrations of glucose or glucose+3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine. The islets isolated from the starved animals showed a diminished insulin-synthetic response to glucose as compared with the controls; this response was partially restored to normal values by elevation of cyclic AMP concentrations by using 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine. 7. It is suggested that the alterations in glucose-stimulated insulin biosynthesis observed in islets during pregnancy and after a period of starvation could be attributable, at least in part, to a long-term alteration of the cyclic AMP system, and in pregnancy to a direct or indirect effect of progesterone on β-cell function.

We have used fractionation on density gradients of Percoll to separate the cell types in the rat anterior pituitary gland and to produce a purified preparation of somatotrophs. The method differs from those described previously which used, for example, albumin or Ficoll gradients, in being more rapid and avoiding low temperatures, and therefore gives cells with improved viability. Anterior pituitary glands from male rats were dispersed with trypsin to produce 1·5 × 106–2·0 × 106 cells/gland. These were fractionated on hyperbolic density gradients of Percoll. Two bands of cells containing somatotrophs were detected, one of which (band A; density 1·075–1·082 g/cm3) contained approximately 90% somatotrophs, whereas the other (band B; density 1·055–1·068 g/cm3) contained about 70% somatotrophs mixed with other cells, especially lactotrophs. Cells in band A appeared more responsive to secretagogues than those in band B; growth hormone secretion was stimulated markedly by cyclic AMP derivatives and prostaglandin E2, and inhibited by somatostatin. Such purified somatotrophs are well suited to biochemical studies on the mechanism of the control of growth hormone secretion.

1. An immunological method for the purification of small quantities of insulin has been devised. 2. This method has been used to isolate labelled insulin secreted from pancreas slices incubated in vitro. The insulin had previously been labelled by incubation of the slices with [(3)H]leucine in vitro. 3. There is some release of labelled insulin when such slices are further incubated in media of low glucose content. When the glucose content of the medium is raised, little additional radioactive insulin is released in the first hour after labelling. However, there is a marked increase in specific radioactivity of insulin released from slices in response to a high concentration of glucose in the second and third hours. Release of labelled insulin is again diminished in the final phase, 4hr. from the start of the experiment. 4. These results are discussed in relation to possible mechanisms of insulin release from the beta-cell.

Adenylate cyclase activity was estimated inhomogenates of rat islets of Langerhans. by measurement of the conversion of [α- 32 P]ATP to adenosine cyclic 3′,5′-[ 32 P]monophosphate. Islet cell adenyulate cyclase activity was stimulated by the addition to the homogenates of glucagon, fluoride, prostaglandins E 1 or E 2 GTP or CTP although not by UTP, TTP, GDP, or GMP. Adrenaline, noradrenaline and isoproterenol were each found to inhibit the activity, the order of potency at a concentration of 10 −4 M being adrenaline > noradrenaline > isoproterenol. The effects of these agents were not altered by β-blackade with propanolol but could be preventived by α-blockade with phenoxybenzamine. The following agents, present at concentrations previously shown to increase rates of insulin secretion from rat islets of Langerhans, were ineffective in altering adenylate cyclase activity when tested in the presence or absence of 0.1 mM GTP: glucose, glibenclamide, xylitol leucine, arginine, or potassium. These results suggest that the activity of adenylate cyclase in the B cells of rat islets of Langerhans may play an important role in mediating the direct effects of hormones and adrenergic agents on insulin release, although the short term effects of substrates such as glucose or amino acids on the release process do not appear to be mediated through alterations in the activity of this enzyme.

SUMMARY The origin of the pronounced hypoglycaemic phase during the onset of alloxan diabetes in the rabbit has been investigated. Blood sugar and serum insulin levels were recorded 6, 12 and 24 hr. after alloxan administration and were related to changes in the insulin content of the pancreas and to the rate of insulin release from pancreas slices in vitro at similar time intervals. During the phase of hypoglycaemia, serum insulin levels were elevated, and insulin release from the pancreas slices was markedly increased, but a decrease in the quantity of insulin extractable from the pancreas occurred during the same 6 hr. period. These results indicate that the hypoglycaemia may result from an unregulated release of preformed insulin from the β cells, during their destruction after the administration of alloxan.

1. A method was devised for the isolation of islets of Langerhans from rabbit pancreas by collagenase digestion in order to study the influx and efflux of K(+) in islets during insulin secretion. 2. Glucose-induced insulin release was accompanied by an increased rate of uptake of (42)K(+) by the islets of Langerhans, though this was not the case for secretion in response to tolbutamide. Ouabain significantly inhibited the uptake of (42)K(+) by islet tissue. 3. No significant increase in the rate of efflux of (42)K(+) was demonstrated during active insulin secretion. 4. Slices of rabbit pancreas were incubated in media of different K(+) content, and rates of insulin release were determined. Alteration of the K(+) concentration of the medium between 3 and 8mm had no effect on the rate of insulin release by pancreas slices. However, decrease of the K(+) concentration to 1mm resulted in inhibition of secretion in response to both glucose and to tolbutamide. Conversely, an increase in K(+) concentration increased rates of insulin release in response to both these stimuli. 5. It is concluded that, though unphysiological concentrations of K(+) may influence the secretion of insulin, fluxes of K(+) in the islets do not appear to be important in the initiation of insulin secretion.

1. Adenylate cyclase activity and patterns of insulin release in response to various concentrations of glucose were determined in islets of Langerhans isolated from starving, fed, or glucose-loaded rats. 2. Basal and glucagon-stimulated activities of adenylate cyclase were lower in islets from starved than from fed rats. The minimum glucose concentration required for stimulation of insulin secretion was higher, whereas the maximum secretory response to glucose was lower, in islets from starved than from fed rats. 3. Adenylate cyclase activity in islets of Langerhans obtained from fed rats loaded with glucose by intermittent intravenous or intraperitoneal injections over 5h was significantly higher than that seen in islets from normal fed rats. Islets obtained from glucose-loaded rats required a lower glucose concentration for stimulation of insulin secretion and attained a higher maximal response to glucose stimulation than those derived from fed rats. 4. Incubation in vitro of islets isolated from normal fed rats, for periods of 1 to 24h in the presence of high concentrations of glucose resulted in an activation of adenylate cyclase that occurred progressively from 2 to 7h and which was maintained during 24h of incubation. The increase of adenylate cyclase activity in isolated islets incubated for 4h in the presence of glucose was not prevented by addition of cycloheximide or actinomycin D. Galactose or 2-deoxyglucose was ineffective in increasing adenylate cyclase activity, and pyruvate (20mm) was less effective than glucose. 5. It is suggested that glucose or a glucose metabolite may exert long-term effects on islet cell adenylate cyclase.

GLUCAGON is as essential as insulin in some species for the maintenance of blood glucose, although the factors influencing its release are less well understood. It has been thought, for example, that a low level of blood glucose might serve as a primary stimulus to secretion1–3, but the effects obtained with low glucose concentrations have been small, and may not have great physiological significance. High levels of amino-acids may also promote the secretion of glucagon3–5, but again the regulatory importance of the eifect is questionable. We here report a very marked inhibition of glucagon release by fatty acids and ketone bodies in vitro. It seems quite likely that the α cells of islets are more sensitive to variations in the levels of circulating fatty acids than to other metabolites.

1. Protein kinase activity was measured in islets of Langerhans that had been incubated in the presence of agents known to affect insulin release. 2. Glucagon, theophylline, caffeine and 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, agents that raise cyclic AMP concentrations in islet cells and stimulate insulin release, increased protein kinase activity. Adrenaline and diazoxide, agents that decrease cyclic AMP concentrations and inhibit insulin secretion, decreased the activity. 3. The increase in protein kinase activity produced by different concentrations of 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine was apparently related to the increase in intracellular concentrations of cyclic AMP. 4. The sulphonylureas, tolbutamide and glibenclamide, agents that increase insulin release, also increased the protein kinase activity; however, leucine, arginine and xylitol, which also stimulate insulin release, were without effect on the kinase activity. 5. Increasing the glucose concentration of the incubation medium from 2 to 20mm had no effect on protein kinase activity. Further, the ability of 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine to increase the protein kinase activity was not affected by the glucose concentration of the incubation medium. 6. These results suggest that agents which affect insulin secretion by altering cyclic AMP concentrations may exert their effects on hormone release by altering the activity of a cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase in islet cells.

WE have established the basic intracellular pathways and time course for the biosynthesis, storage and secretion of insulin by rat islets of Langerhans1,2. Little is known, however, of the metabolic requirements for the translocation of newly synthesized hormone through the cell before its secretion. This is of particular interest in the pancreatic B cell because it is possible to correlate the site of any block imposed by a metabolic inhibitor with the effects of the inhibitor on the conversion of the biosynthetic precursor of insulin (proinsulin) to insulin; thus the exact intracellular site of this conversion may be localized in a way which has not so far proved possible by subcellular fractionation techniques2–4.

UP to the present, there has been little information available concerning the rate at which newly synthesized protein hormones may be secreted, following the stimulation of endocrine glands. In recent work on the synthesis of insulin within pancreas slices, in vitro, it became of interest to determine whether or not newly synthesized insulin may be released directly into the incubation medium, or alternatively whether or not release of insulin might be delayed following its accumulation within β-granules. It has already been suggested by Lacy1 that release of insulin from β-cells in response to glucose involves the movement of these granules to the cell surface, where they are released into blood vessels.

Taxol, a promotor of microtubule polymerization, and nocodazole, which induces microtubule depolymerization, used at concentrations known to be specific for these effects in other cell types, were each shown to inhibit glucose-stimulated insulin secretion from isolated rat islets of Langerhans. These findings suggest that the dynamic regulation of microtubule polymerization-depolymerization in pancreatic B ceils may be important for insulin secretion via the microtubule-microfilamentous system.

1. Guanylate cyclase activity was determined in homogenates of guinea-pig islets of Langerhans by measurement of the conversion of [α-32P]GTP into cyclic [32P]GMP, the reaction products being separated on columns of neutral alumina. 2. The pH optimum of the enzyme was 7.3; it showed a requirement for bivalent cations, the effectiveness of the cations tested being Mn2+»Ca2+>Mg2+. 3. About 70% of enzyme activity was sedimented by centrifugation at 105000g for 60min; activity was increased 2.3-fold by treatment of homogenates with 0.1% Triton X-100. 4. Guanylate cyclase activity of homogenates was increased by acetylcholine, secretin or pancreozymin, but was inhibited by adrenaline, noradrenaline or ATP. Insulin, glucagon, prostaglandins E1 or E2, glucose, F-, diazoxide or glibenclamide were ineffective. 5. Determination of cyclic GMP amounts in islets by radioimmunoassay showed a basal concentration of 2.0pmol/mg of protein, which was increased by incubation of the islets in the presence of acetylcholine or the phosphodiesterase inhibitor 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, but was unaffected by glucose. 6. Dibutyryl cyclic GMP had significant stimulatory effects on rates of insulin biosynthesis in isolated rat islets of Langerhans. 7. These results suggest a possible role for cyclic GMP in the regulation of insulin biosynthesis and secretion.