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The article discusses a method for assessing the lymphocyte transformation of human leucocyte cultures induced by phytohaemagglutinin and tuberculin purified protein derivative (PPD) by the measurement of the uptake of thymidine. The thymidine uptake of the cultures has been expressed as percentage of the total activity added. The mean basal uptake of twenty-two unstimulated cultures was 0-96 percent. The mean uptake of twenty-four PHA stimulated cultures was 19-5 percent, whilst the mean uptake of eleven PPD stimulated cultures from seven subjects, who were strongly positive on skin testing to tuberculin, was 20-1 percent. A rise of thymidine uptake was detected in five out of six tuberculin negative subjects.

The effects of chronic sympathetic hyperinnervation on pancreatic beta-cell insulin secretion were investigated utilizing the in vitro perfused pancreas from transgenic mice. These mice exhibit islet hyperinnervation of sympathetic neurons resulting from overexpression of nerve growth factor in their beta-cells (1). The goal was to determine whether sympathetic hyperinnervation increased classic alpha-adrenergic inhibition of beta-cell insulin secretion or, in contrast, down-regulated beta-cell sensitivity to adrenergic input resulting in enhanced insulin secretion. Both fasting and fed blood sugars and pancreatic insulin content were normal in the transgenics. Response of the transgenic perfused pancreas to low glucose (7 mM) was primarily first phase and normal whereas high glucose (22 mM) caused enhanced, rather than reduced, insulin secretion of both first and second phases. The alpha-antagonist, phentolamine, caused a six-fold increase in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion from the control pancreas, an effect that was blunted for the transgenic pancreas. A similarly blunted response to phentolamine occurred when this agent was superimposed on a combined glucose-forskolin stimulus. (The positive effect on insulin secretion by phentolamine in normal beta-cell preparations has arguably been ascribed to non-specific ionic effects.) Therefore, as a test of possible changes in the ATP regulated K+ channel or the linked Ca++ channels, glyburide was perfused during glucose stimulation. Insulin secretion in response to glyburide was increased two fold in the control pancreas. However, with the transgenic pancreas, in contrast to the enhanced response to glucose, the effect of glyburide was almost completely inhibited. It is concluded that: 1) chronic adrenergic hyperinnervation results in enhanced glucose-stimulated insulin secretion by desensitization of a major alpha-adrenergic inhibitory site(s); and 2) adrenergic hyperinnervation acts directly or indirectly on ion flux to partially inhibit insulin release, an effect which is not desensitized. Since down-regulation of a single alpha-adrenergic receptor would be expected to desensitize both phenomena the observed differential desensitization indicates that different post receptor events or more than one adrenergic receptor are involved.

Although information regarding insulin secretion usually is considered equivalent when generated in the mouse or the rat, it is established that the kinetics of insulin secretion from mouse and rat pancreatic beta cells differ. The mechanisms underlining these differences are not understood. The in vitro perfused pancreas and isolated islets of the mouse or rat were employed in this study to investigate the role of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), a major positive modulator of beta-cell function, as one differentiating signal for the uniquely different insulin release from the beta cells of these commonly used rodents. Glucose-stimulated first-phase insulin release from the perfused pancreas of the rat was higher than the mouse when calculated per gram of pancreas or as fractional secretion, but this phase was identical in the two species when results were adjusted for total body weight. Whether related to insulin content, pancreatic weight or body weight, the rat pancreas responded to glucose with a progressively increasing second-phase insulin release compared to the mouse pancreas, which secreted a flat second-phase of lesser magnitude. Isolated islets from rat and mouse were comparable in insulin content whereas the basal cAMP level of mouse islets was less than half that of the rat. At submaximal stimulation with glucose or glucose + IBMX or forskolin, mouse islets exhibited lower cAMP levels to a given stimulus than the rat. In rat islets cAMP levels increased to approximately 1000 fmol per islet, although insulin secretion maximized by 100-150 fmol.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

In human diabetes, inherent impaired insulin secretion can be exacerbated by desensitization of the beta cell by chronic hyperglycemia. Interest in this phenomenon has generated extensive studies in genetic or experimentally induced diabetes in animals and in fully in vitro systems, with often conflicting results. In general, although chronic glucose causes decreased beta-cell response to this carbohydrate, basal response and response to alternate stimulating agents are enhanced. Glucose-stimulated insulin synthesis can be increased or decreased depending on the system studied. Using a two-compartment beta-cell model of phasic insulin secretion, a unifying hypothesis is described which can explain some of the apparent conflicting data. This hypothesis suggests that glucose-desensitization is caused by an impairment in stimulation of a hypothetical potentiator singularly responsible for: 1) some of the characteristic phases of insulin secretion; 2) basal release; 3) potentiation of non-glucose stimulators; and 4) apparent "recovery" from desensitization. Review of some of the pathways that regulate insulin secretion suggest that phosphoinositol metabolism and protein kinase-C production are regulated similarly to the theoretical potentiator and their impairment is a major contributor to glucose desensitization in the beta cell.

In this study we have examined the role of glucagon and somatostatin in regulating glucose-induced desensitization of insulin secretion from rat islets. Measured in batch incubations with medium routinely used to induce three phases of insulin secretion, secreted glucagon levels fell off over 24 h to 20% of peak secretion levels. Although more responsive to various secretagogues, somatostatin secretion also declined to the same degree. Thus, the A- and D-cells desensitize to chronic stimulation as does the B cell. In other experiments, added glucagon (10(-6) M) enhanced glucose (11 X 10(-3) M)-stimulated insulin secretion 34% in the first 3 h; however, islets became insensitive to continuous glucagon by 4 h. The exogenous glucagon did not prevent or delay glucose-induced desensitization of insulin secretion. When glucagon was administered as acute 1-h tests over continuous glucose administration, the degree of B-cell response did not differ in the 1st, 3rd, or 6th hours and appeared to increase in the 21st hour. When islets were perifused continuously with glucose (22 X 10(-3) M) plus 3 X 10(-7) M somatostatin, glucose-induced insulin secretion was suppressed 50% in the first 3 h, but this inhibitory effect disappeared after 6 h. Desensitization was slightly delayed, but not prevented. When somatostatin was administered as acute 1-h tests over continuous glucose perifusion, the B-cell response was relatively constant in the 3rd, 6th, and 21st hours. Results show that 1) islet release of glucagon and somatostatin desensitizes during constant stimulation; and 2) islet release of insulin desensitizes to chronic potentiation or inhibition, respectively, by these hormones. Furthermore, 3) changing B-cell sensitivity to either glucagon or somatostatin cannot account for observed desensitization of insulin secretion with chronic glucose exposure.

It is emphasized that animal models should be used to study specific genotypic or phenotypic expressions associated with diabetes rather than assuming a single animal model can reflect diverse forms of the human disease. Diabetic and normal animals are reviewed on the basis of their usefulness as models of genetic, viral, and chemically induced diabetes, including the often associated immune phenomena. Characteristics of spontaneously diabetic animals with and without obesity are also described with an emphasis on both genetics and metabolic derangements. Recommendations for future animal experimentation include: more longitudinal studies evaluating the role of sex, prenatal environment, diet, and viral or chemical attack on B-cell function; characterization of the immune phenomena associated with B-cell lesions (and insulitis) in diabetic and immunologically incompetent lines; clarification of relationships between obesity and islet-cell function with emphasis on the role of fuel metabolism, vitamins, and minerals; and, finally, the development of new models with specific genetic aberrations placed in normal or diabetic lines.

To determine whether somatostatin inhibits glucagon secretion directly at the pancreatic level and to study quantitatively the relative effects of somatostatin on glucagon and insulin secretion, the effects of various concentrations of somatostatin on glucagon and insulin release from the in vitro perfused rat pancreas in response to arginine (14.2 mM), isoproterenol (2 mg/ml) and theophylline (10 MM) were studied. Glucagon and insulin responses to arginine were progressively inhibited by somatostatin over a concentration range from 0.1-100 ng/ml. At all doses, somatostatin caused greater inhibition of glucagon secretion than of insulin secretion. Approximately 4 ng/ml somatostatin reduced glucagon responses 50%, whereas 90 ng/ml was required to produce comparable inhibition of insulin responses. Glucagon responses to isoproterenol, an activator of adenylate cyclase, and to theophylline, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, were completely abolished by 100 ng/ml somatostatin. Isoproterenol did cause insulin release in this system, but insulin responses to theophylline were diminished by somatostatin. The present studies thus indicate that somatostatin is a potent inhibitor of both glucagon and insulin secretion and indicate that it acts directly on the pancreatic alpha and beta cells. Glucagon secretion is approximately 20 times more sensitive to the inhibitory effects of somatostatin than is insulin secretion. Furthermore, the present results suggest that somatostatin may act by modifying cAMP-dependent systems rather than by altering cAMP levels.

Kinetics of (45)Ca efflux and insulin release were studied in collagenase-isolated rat islets during 2-h perifusions with calcium-depleted (0.05 mM) bicarbonate-phosphate buffer containing 2.2 mM glucose. Addition of glucose (16.7 mM) suppressed (45)Ca efflux by 30%. Removal of glucose caused an "off response" of insulin release. The perifusion of a normal concentration of Ca (2.3 mM) greatly stimulated (45)Ca efflux, indicating Ca <--> (45)Ca exchange. When Ca and glucose were superimposed, the effects on (45)Ca efflux and insulin release depended upon the order of presentation of the stimuli: when Ca was added to an ongoing 16.7-mM glucose perifusion, biphasic patterns of (45)Ca and insulin release were seen; when glucose was superimposed on a Ca perifusion, an inhibition of the Ca-stimulated (45)Ca efflux occurred, and a reduced but clearly biphasic insulin response was seen. The subsequent insulin off response after with-drawal of the glucose was also reduced. Mathematical "peeling" of (45)Ca efflux curves from unstimulated islets suggests that there are at least two, and probably three, different intracellular Ca compartments (not including the extracellular sucrose space). At the beginning of perifusion, these three compartments (I, II, III) contain 25, 56, and 19% of the intracellular (45)Ca, and their rates of efflux are 6.7, 1.2, and 0.1%/min, respectively. Glucose appears to suppress efflux from the largest compartment (II); Ca appears to exchange with (45)Ca from a more inert compartment (III). The relationship between insulin and (45)Ca release is not stoichiometric.

Through the use of a feedback-controlled dextrose infusion system, we obtained continuous monitoring of the blood glucose level in a patient undergoing surgery for multiple pancreatic beta-cell tumors. In addition, this device infused dextrose at variable rates to maintain a predetermined euglycemic level of 90 mg/dl. Before locating the source of excessive insulin production, the maximum dextrose infusion rate of 400 mg/min was required; but after extirpation of multiple insulinomas, the dextrose-infusion rate declined whereas the blood glucose level rose above the preselected level. These results emphasize the usefulness of a monitoring and infusion system not only in protecting the patient from the hazard of hypoglycemia under anesthesia but also as an aid in determining whether all insulin-secreting tumors have been removed.

Studies of isolated islets labeled with radioactive leucine show that glucose at a critical time "marks" islets in such a way as to cause preferential release of newly synthesized insulin. The preferential release of insulin from marked islets is relatively independent of subsequent secretagogues or rates of insulin secretion. Previous kinetic studies have indicated that the critical time at which marking occurs is after proinsulin biosynthesis but before the secretory event. Thus, secretory cells may regulate the diversion of newly synthesized material for immediate release as it is approaching or transiting the Golgi apparatus.