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Culture of rat pancreatic islets with interleukin-1 (IL-1) results in up-regulation of the inducible isoform of nitric oxide synthase and overproduction of nitric oxide (NO). This is associated with reversible inhibition of both glucose-induced insulin secretion and islet glucose oxidation, and these effects are prevented by the inducible nitric oxide synthase inhibitor NG-monomethylarginine. IL-1 also induces accumulation of nonesterified arachidonic acid in islets by an NO-dependent mechanism, and one potential explanation for that effect would involve an IL-1-induced enhancement of islet glycolytic flux. We have therefore examined effects of IL-1 on islet glycolytic utilization of glucose and find that culture of islets with IL-1 in medium containing 5.5 mM glucose results in suppression of islet glucose utilization subsequently measured at glucose concentrations between 6 and 18 mM. The IL-1-induced suppression of islet glucose utilization is associated with a decline in islet glucokinase mRNA content, as determined by competitive reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and in glucokinase protein synthesis, as determined by immuoprecipitation experiments, and all of these effects are prevented by NG-monomethylarginine. These findings suggest that IL-1 can down-regulate islet glucokinase, which is the primary component of the islet glucose-sensor apparatus, by an NO-dependent mechanism. Because reductions in islet glucokinase levels are known to cause a form of type II diabetes mellitus, these observations raise the possibility that factors which increase islet NO levels might contribute to development of glucose intolerance.

D-chiro-inositol is a rare inositol isomer present in inositol phosphoglycans which are proposed mediators of insulin action. To study D-chiro-inositol metabolism in diabetes mellitus, a sensitive and specific assay was developed using negative-ion chemical ionization gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Median urinary D-chiro-inositol excretion, which was 2.1 mumol/day in nondiabetics, was substantially increased to 12 mumol/day in non-insulin-dependent diabetes (P < 0.0001) and to 74 mumol/day in insulin-dependent diabetes (P < 0.0001). Urinary D-chiro-inositol was strongly correlated with fasting plasma glucose (r = 0.568, P < 0.0001), glycated hemoglobin (r = 0.529, P < 0.0001), and urinary glucose (r = 0.368, P = 0.01). The renal clearance of D-chiro-inositol was selectively elevated in both non-insulin-dependent and insulin-dependent diabetes when compared with the clearances of L-chiro-inositol or myo-inositol and exceeded the glomerular filtration rate in 71% of the diabetics but in none of the nondiabetics. In poorly controlled diabetic patients insulin treatment reduced urinary D-chiro-inositol losses by 63% and increased plasma levels by 8.8-fold. The metabolism of D-chiro-inositol is abnormal in diabetes and appears to be influenced by short- and long-term metabolic control.

Three experimental manipulations showed the suppressive effect of injection of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) in the diabetic state of nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice. (i) Diabetes was inhibited in young NOD mice injected with the adjuvant. (ii) Recurrence of diabetes in mice transplanted with pancreatic islets was also inhibited when the recipients were injected with CFA. (iii) Injection of spleen lymphocytes from diabetic mice into male NOD mice transferred the diabetic state, but this transfer was markedly suppressed when the recipients were treated with CFA. In all three cases the spleen cells from the normoglycemic mice treated with CFA induced diabetes when transferred into NOD male mice. CFA, therefore, induces a state of T-cell dormancy, in which the islets are no longer subject to an immune attack.

Epitrochlearis muscles obtained from normal male Holtzman rats used as controls (C) and rats with reduced renal mass (Nx) fed isocaloric diets of varying protein content were incubated in Krebs-Ringer buffer containing 5 mM glucose for 1 or 3 h with or without insulin. Alanine (ALA) release rates from muscles of Nx rats were increased 40% above C values after 1 h of incubation regardless of protein intake. Addition of insulin decreased the ALA release from muscles of Nx rats to C values in animals fed 10 and 20% casein and chow but did not in rats fed 40% casein. After 3 h of incubation, all ALA release rates decreased by congruent with40%. The ALA release from muscles of Nx rats fed 10% casein was comparable to C values and decreased further with the addition of insulin. On the other hand, ALA release from muscles of Nx rats fed 20 and 40% casein as well as chow remained significantly elevated above C values, but responded to the addition of insulin with a reduction in release rates to C values, except from the muscles of Nx animals fed 40% casein. Tyrosine (TYR) and phenylalanine (PHE) release rates also were increased in muscles from Nx rats compared with C after 1 h of incubation. Release rates were highest in the Nx group fed 10% casein and decreased with increasing protein intake. Addition of insulin decreased the release rates of Nx rats to C values in each group. After 3 h of incubation, release rates of TYR and PHE in muscles from Nx rats remained significantly above C values for all groups, but responded to the addition of insulin with a decrease to C values. Glutamine and glutamate release were not significantly affected by reduction in renal mass.Base-line glucose uptake by all groups of muscles from Nx rats was significantly greater than corresponding C values, but maximal insulin-stimulated glucose uptake was comparable in all groups. Tissue pool sizes for glycogen, ATP, phosphocreatine, ALA, glutamate, and glutamine were unaffected by reduction in renal mass. The results indicate that Nx is associated with accelerated ALA, TYR, and PHE release from muscle. ALA release rose with increasing protein intake and decreased to values observed from C muscles after addition of insulin except in Nx animals fed 40% casein. TYR and PHE release decreased with increasing protein intake and also decreased to C values with the addition of insulin. The data also suggest that ALA release is not dependent upon glucose uptake in muscles from either C or Nx rats.

Effects of isometric contraction and catecholamines on glucose and glycogen metabolism in skeletal muscle were investigated with the in vitro rat epitrochlearis preparation. Mechanical performance and glycogenolysis exhibited two phases. During the initial 30 min, muscle work was 30% greater and glycogenolysis 8- to 10-fold faster than the steady-state values in the subsequent 3-4 h of contraction. Glucose uptake was increased by contraction and remained relatively constant during stimulation. Epinephrine (10(-9) to 10(-6) M) and norepinephrine (10(-7) to 10(-5) M) produced inotropic and glycogenolytic effects blocked by propranolol but not phentolamine. Chemical sympathectomy and propranolol blocked the initial glycogenolytic and inotropic effects produced by isometric contraction, suggesting that they were caused by the release of endogenous catecholamines. Net lactate production in resting muscles accounted for > 50% of total glucosyl units utilized. During contraction net lactate production accounted < 10-15% of total glycosyl flux indicating that rat fast-twitch pale muscle is capable of significant rates of aerobic glucose oxidation. Oleate and caprylate did not affect mechanical performance, glycogen, or glucose metabolism in resting or contracting muscles.

The effect of elevated glucagon concentrations on insulin requirements and on blood glucose concentrations was studied in five insulin-requiring diabetic subjects during feedback control of hyperglycemia with an automated glucose-controlled insulin infusion system (artificial endocrine pancreas) for six to eight hours. Two levels of hyperglucagonemia were induced by means of constant intravenous infusion. Raising plasma glucagon concentrations to levels reported in poorly controlled diabetics (450 to 665 pg. per milliliter) did not alter total insulin requirements or blood glucose concentrations. Higher glucagon concentrations (850 to 1,050 pg. per milliliter) caused a modest (26 per cent) increase in insulin requirements and only a slight increase in mean blood glucose concentrations. These studies demonstrate that the degree of hyperglucagonemia found most frequently in insulin-requiring diabetics does not increase insulin requirements or decrease insulin effectiveness in patients given insulin in amounts appropriate to maintain euglycemia.

Sequential determinations of glucose outflow and inflow, and rates of gluconeogenesis from alanine, before, during and after insulin-induced hypoglycemia were obtained in relation to alterations in circulating epinephrine, norepinephrine, glucagon, cortisol, and growth hormone in six normal subjects. Insulin decreased the mean (+/-SEM) plasma glucose from 89+/-3 to 39+/-2 mg/dl 25 min after injection, but this decline ceased despite serum insulin levels of 153+/-22 mul/ml. Before insulin, glucose inflow and outflow were constant averaging 125.3+/-7.1 mg/kg per h. 15 min after insulin, mean glucose outflow increased threefold, but then decreased at 25 min, reaching a rate 15% less than the preinsulin rate. Glucose inflow decreased 80% 15 min after insulin, but increased at 25 min, reaching a maximum of twice the basal rate. Gluconeogenesis from alanine decreased 68% 15 min after insulin, but returned to preinsulin rates at 25 min, and remained constant for the next 25 min, after which it increased linearly. A fourfold increase in mean plasma epinephrine was found 20 min after insulin, with maximal levels 50 times basal. Plasma norepinephrine concentrations first increased significantly at 25 min after insulin, whereas significantly increased levels of cortisol and glucagon occurred at 30 min, and growth hormone at 40 min after insulin. Thus, insulin-induced hypoglycemia in man results from both a decrease in glucose production and an increase in glucose utilization. Accelerated glycogenolysis produced much of the initial, posthypoglycemic increment in glucose production. The contribution of glycogenolysis decreased with time, while that of gluconeogenesis from alanine increased. Of the hormones studied, only the increments in plasma catecholamines preceded or coincided with the measured increase in glucose production after hypoglycemia. It therefore seems probable that adrenergic mechanisms play a major role in the initiation of counter-regulatory responses to insulin-induced hypoglycemia in man.

The binding of colchicine to tubulin, purified by two cycles of assembly-disassembly, has been studied. Equilibrium studies indicated a dissociation constant which declined during incubation approaching a minimum value of approximately 0.30 times 10- minus 6 M after 13 hours of incubation. Because tubulin is unstable during prolonged incubation (t1/2 of 5.2 hours for free tubulin, t1/2 of 12.5 hours for tubulin bound to colchicine), the equilibrium Kd was felt to be an overestimation of the true Kd. The rate constant of dissociation (k-1 equal to 0.009 hour- minus 1 hour- minus 1) and the rate constant of association (k1 equal to 0.37 times 10-6 M-minus 1) were measured under conditions designed to circumvent or correct for tubulin instability. The dissociation constant determined by the ratio k-1/k1 was 0.024 times -minus 6 M. To determine whether the discrepancy between the "equilibrium" and "kinetic" determined dissociation constants could be accounted for on the basis of tubulin instability, the binding reaction was computer-simulated using the measured association and dissociation rate constants and the rate constants for decay of bound and free tubulin. Computer simulation was in close agreement with the experimentally determined behavior of the reaction during a 13-hour incubation. It is concluded that the Kd determined by equilibrium methodology results in a considerable overestimation due to the instability of tubulin, and that the best estimate for the Kd of the colchicine-tubulin equilibrium is the value determined by the ratio of the rate constants.

The effects of insulin and contraction on glucose transport and metabolism were investigated in rat epitrochlearis muscles in vitro. Insulin dose-response curves showed a threshold (approximately 50 microunits/ml) and saturation-type (approximately 1 mU/ml) kinetics, whereas isometric contraction activated glucose transport and metabolism in a linear fashion with no evidence of a threshold. Insulin and contraction increased the apparent maximal rate of uptake of the hexose transport system with minimal effect on its apparent Km. The stimulatory effects of insulin and contraction were additive; similar results were obtained with 2-deoxy-D-glucose. Contraction stimulated glucose transport in three different preparations of muscles depleted of insulin: 1) exhaustively washed for 2 h, 2) rats infused with anti-insulin serum, and 3) chronically (streptozotocin-induced) diabetic rats. Prostaglandin E2 augmented the effect of a submaximal concentration of insulin on glucose transport without exerting any effect by itself but had no effect on contraction-augmented glucose transport. It is concluded that insulin and contraction activate glucose transport and metabolism via independent mechanisms.

A rapid method for measuring polymerized and depolymerized forms of tubulin in tissues has been developed. The procedure consists of homogenization and centrifugation of the tissue in a microtubule-stabilizing solution and depolymerization of the precipitated microtubules; polymerized and depolymerized forms of tubulin are quantitated by a colchicine-binding assay. The validity of the technique was assessed by electron microscopy and recovery studies with labeled and unlabeled preparations of polymerized and depolymerized forms of rat brain tubulin. The sensitivity of this technique allows quantitation of tubulin in 150 micrograms of tissue, wet weight. The method demonstrated that both the polymerized and depolymerized forms of tubulin were present in rat liver cells, and that in the fed state 31.3 +/-0.7% of the total tubulin pool was in the polymerized form.

A 53 year old woman presented with diabetes mellitus, hyperglucagonemia (600 to 1,500 pg/ml), clinical hyperparathyroidism and an abdominal mass diagnosed on biopsy as an islet cell carcinoma. Glucagon content of the tumor was 0.78 mug/g wet weight. Hourly blood samples during a 24 hour period revealed a direct correlation between plasma glucose and glucagon. The oral administration of glucose paradoxically increased whereas the intravenous administration decreased plasma glucagon. Circulating glucagon levels were markedly increased with arginine and epinephrine infusion. Both short- and long-term administration of alpha adrenergic blockade depressed the glucagon response to epinephrine infusion. In contrast, long-term alpha adrenergic blockade increased glucagon secretion despite improved glucose tolerance during a second 24 hour study. Although the patient demonstrated overt clinical and chemical findings of hyperparathyroidism, parathyroid hormone (PTH) was not detected in her plasma. The pattern of tumor growth was consistent with an origin from pancreatic islets. We conclude that (1) the tumor was responsive to physiologic stimuli known to affect glucagon secretion; (2) elevations of plasma glucagon levels with oral and dietary glucose suggest regulation of secretion by intestinal factors; and (3) improvement of glucose tolerance with alpha adrenergic blockade may be related to increased insulin secretion.

The synthesis and release of alanine and glutamine were investigated with an intact rat epitrochlaris muscle preparation. This preparation will maintain on incubation for up to 6 hours, tissue levels of phosphocreatine, ATP, ADP, lactate, and pyruvate closely approximating those values observed in gastrocnemius muscles freeze-clamped in vivo. The epitrochlaris preparation releases amino acids in the same relative proportions and amounts as a perfused rat hindquarter preparation and human skeletal muscle. Since amino acids were released during incubation without observable changes in tissue amino acids levels, rates of alanine and glutamine release closely approximate net amino acid synthesis. Large increases in either glucose uptake or glycolysis in muscle were not accompanied by changes in either alanine or glutamine synthesis. Insulin increased muscle glucose uptake 4-fold, but was without effect on alanine and glutamine release. Inhibition of glycolysis by iodacetate did not decrease the rate of alanine synthesis. The rates of alanine and glutamine synthesis and release from muscle decreased significantly during prolonged incubation despite a constant rate of glucose uptake and pyruvate production. Alanine synthesis and release were decreased by aminooxyacetic acid, an inhibitor of alanine aminotransferase. This inhibition was accompanied by a compensatory increase in the release of other amino acids, such as aspartate, an amino acid which was not otherwise released in appreciable quantities by muscle. The release of alanine, pyruvate, glutamate, and glutamine were observed to be interrelated events, reflecting a probable near-equilibrium state of alanine aminotransferase in skeletal muscle. It is concluded that glucose metabolism and amino acid release are functionally independent processes in skeletal muscle. Alanine release reflects the de novo synthesis of the amino acid and does not arise from the selective proteolysis of an alanine-rich storage protein. It appears that the rate of alanine and glutamine synthesis in skeletal muscle is dependent upon the transformation and metabolism of amino acid precursors.

Studies are presented which support the concept that a cell membrane localized glucoreceptor system is involved in the insulin secretory response to glucose and that the specific stimulation of insulin synthesis by glucose reflects effects at both the transcriptional and posttranscriptional level. After 48 hours of fasting the insulin secretory response to glucose is markedly reduced. This reduction is overcome by 24 hours of refeeding carbohydrate, but notprotein or fat, and is blocked by refeeding in the presence of an inhibitor of RNA synthesis. Although these studies clearly demonstrate an inducible glucoreceptor system, they do not permit conclusions regarding either its composition or location in the beta-cell. Phloridzin, a glycoside with a high affinity for glucose-carrier systems in plama membranes, stimulated basal insulin secretion sixfold. A large number of plant lectins were tested for ability to stimulate insulin release from isolated islets, and only mushroom lectin did so. The lectin concentration producing half-maximal hormone releaseis 3 x 10-7, a value in good agreement with the dissociation constant forlectin binding. Glucose stimulated insulin sythesis in isolated rat islets was determined to be partially inhibited by actinomycin D. The posttranscriptional effect was determined to be increased initiation of total islet mRNAas well as proinsulin mRNA. To futher quantitate the effect of glucose on proinsulin mRNA, immunoprecipitation of proinsulin synthesizing polysomes was accomplished. It appeared that proinsulin is synthesized on a mRNA accommodating six to eight ribosomes, and the size of the proinsulin mRNA is 10-11 S on sucrose gradients. This unexpectedly large size of the proinsulin mRNA is discussed.

This investigation is designed to explore the potential role of apo VLDL as a precursor of a polypeptide component of human LDL. Attention was directed to the chromatography-defined Sf-I polypeptide fraction of apo VLDL, which has been previously shown to be immunologically and chemically indistinguishable from the major component of apoLDL.1-3 In VLDL isolated from bloow drawn within two hours following 75Se-SM injection, the Sf-I polypeptide fraction of apo VLDL was highly enriched with isotope, providing an appropriate preparation for in-vitro tracer studies. Conversion of 75Se-VLDL to 75Se-LDL occurred in vitro in the presence of normal plasma at 37 degrees C., and this conversion was augmented by post-heparin plasma. No conversion to HDL lipoproteins could be detected. Injection of heparin in vivo resulted in acute reciprocal changes in the radioactivity contained within serum apo VLDL and apoLDL. These findings suggest that a component of the Sf-I polypeptide fraction of apo VLDL can be metabolized into the apoprotein of LDL in man. Thus, the biochemical and immunologic similarities between the Sf-I fractions of apoVLDL and apoLDL may result from a physiologic "precursor-product" relationship between the apoprotein moieties of these two lipoprotein species. A method for further investigation of the metabolism of human apoprotein is suggested.

Alanine and glutamine formation and release were studied using the intact epitrochlaris preparation of rat skeletal muscle. Alanine release from skeletal muscle was increased by fasting (65%), cortisone (145%), thyroxine (200%), and diabetes (185%). Glutamine release was decreased by cortisone (37%) and diabetes (23%) but not significantly affected by fasting or thyroxine. Tissue levels of alanine were unchanged but tissue glutamine levels were markedly reduced (30 to 60%) in all treatment groups. Insulin added in vitro did not affect amino acid release even with preparations obtained from diabetic animals. Inhibition of glycolysis with 0.2 mM iodoacetate had no effect on the rate of alanine and glutamine formation in any treatment group. Pyruvate generation was increased by all treatments even in the presence of the inhibitor. Total skeletal muscle alanine, aspartate, and branched chain aminotransferase, glutamate dehydrogenase, and malic enzyme activities were not significantly altered in any treatment groups. The addition of 10 mM aspartate, cysteine, branched chain amino acids, and serine significantly increased alanine formation, whereas the maximal rate of glutamine formation in the presence of stimulating amino acids was reduced in each treatment groups--the most marked effects were noted with cortisone and diabetic preparations. Although accelerated muscle proteolysis is an important factor regulating alanine formation in skeletal muscle, the redirection of carbon flow from glutamine toward alanine formation observed in fasting, cortisone, thyroxine-treated, and diabetic rats, indicates that factors other than proteolysis also participate in the control of amino acid release from muscle.

Polymerized and depolymerized tubulin were measured in pancreatic islets under various physiological and pharmacological conditions. Variations in insulin release from islets of fed or fasted rats were accompanied by concomitant changes in tubulin polymerization. Glucose induced the formation of microtubules in vitro independent of extracellular calcium. Total and polymerized tubulin content were decreased by fasting and restored by glucose feeding.

An in vitro rat muscle preparation is described that can contract at rates of 12-240 twitches/min. Maximum dF/dt paralleled maximum twitch tension, their ratio being constant at approximately 8 ms for contraction rates of 12-120 twitches/min. Time to peak tension was 8-13 ms, time to peak dF/dt 5-8 ms, and half-relaxation time 4 ms. These parameters were unaffected by rate of contraction or duration of isometric work. Differential ATPase staining demonstrated that 60-65% of the fibers were fast-twitch white, 20% fast-twitch red, and 15% slow-twitch red. The preponderance of fast-twitch fibers correlated with the observed mechanical performance of the muscle. Muscles contracting for 60 min at rates up to 48 twitches/min maintained total adenine nucleotide content (ATP, ADP, AMP) at near resting levels. At higher twitch rates (72-240 twitches/min), total adenine nucleotide content decreased 40%, reflecting exclusively a fall in ATP in the presence of adequate phosphocreatine stores. Adequate oxygenation was reflected by lactate-to-pyruvate ratios in the range of 11-15 at all rates of contraction.

A tissue culture-perifusion system is described that allows for long-term culture of pancreatic islets and study of the dynamics of islet hormone secretion. Islets cultured in this system demonstrate brisk, reproducible biphasic insulin and glucagon release. Glucose-stimulated insulin release is similar after 1 or 14 days in culture. Freshly isolated islets are relatively insensitive to somatostatin, requiring 100 ng/ml to suppress partially the glucose-induced insulin secretion. After 24 h of culture, the same islets demonstrate a marked increase in sensitivity to this hormone. Glucagon secretion from islets maintained in this system occurred in a predictable fashion to arginine stimulation and glucose inhibition.

This report describes sensitive, precise microtechniques that allow quantification of glucose and alanine metabolism in vivo using stable isotope tracers. By combined gas chromatography--mass spectrometry and selected ion monitoring--deuterium and carbon-13 enrichment in blood glucose and alanine were measured with an error of less than 2 per cent. Estimation of glucose and alanine flux in dogs by stable isotope tracer techniques was compared with simultaneous measurements made in the same animal with conventional radiotracer dilution methods. Application of the described stable isotope methods to determination of glucose and alanine turnover as well as alanine-2,3-13C incorporation into glucose in adult men confirmed the safety and validity of these techniques for human investigation.

The present study was undertaken to determine whether alterations in ketone body utilization and hepatic production, independent of the FFA load, were also involved in the development of fasting ketosis. Plasma Beta-OH butyric acid (Beta-OHB) increased to 2.5-4.5 mM and plasma FFA to 1,000-1,400 muEq/L. in normal weight individuals after five to seven days' starvation and in obese subjects after ten to fourteen days' fasting. Acute elevations fo the plasma FFA greater than 1,500 muEq/L. for sixty minutes in fed normal weight and obese subjects with a fat meal-heparin regimen resulted in peak elevations of plasma Beta-OHB (0.25-0.45mM), only 10 percent of that seen during fasting. When plasma FFA were lowered acutely during fasting with the antilipolytic agent Pyrazole to control levels (400-600 muEq/L.), plasma Beta-OHB decreased 35 plus or minus 5 per cent. Comparable lowering of plasma FFA in normal weight or obese starved subjects given dexamethasone to maintain elevated fasting plasma insulin levels resulted in an 87 plus or minus 3 per cent decrease in plasma Beta-OHB. Similar studies in obese fasted subjects pretreated with an intravenous infusion of insulin (1.0 U/hr. for eight hours) before receiving Pyrazole resulted in a 65 plus or minus 5 per cent decrease in plasma Beta-OHB. Plasma Beta-OHB half-life, determined after injections of 12 gm. Beta-OHB, increased significantly during fasting (110 plus or minus 15 minutes) and was decreased when the fasting subjects were maintained on dexamethasone (65 plus or minus 7 minutes). These studies indicate that accelerated hepatic ketogenesis during starvation is a result of both enhanced activity of the enzymatic system(s) involved in ketone body production as well as an increased FFA load. The increase in plasma Beta-OHB during fasting reflects not only an accelerated rate of hepatic ketogenesis but also an impairment of peripheral utilization, both processes apparently being sensitive to insulin. Diabetes 24:10-16, January, 1975.

The metabolism of lipoprotein-apoprotein was examined in four subjects with normal lipid metabolism and in one subject with type II hyperlipemia by means of isotopic tracer methodology. Studies were performed after intravenous injection of a radioactive amino acid precursor for apoprotein synthesis (75Se-selenomethionine), in both the basal state and following the acute injection of intravenous heparin. Computer technics were used to evaluate a series of multicompartmental models, and a general model is proposed that yields optimum fitting of experimental data for serum free amino acid precursor, very-low-density lipoprotein-apoprotein (VLD-apoprotein), and low-density lipoprotein-apoprotein (LDL-apoprotein) in man. The analysis demonstrates that approximately half of the transport of 75Se-apoVLDL from the plasma VLDL pool is converted to 75Se-apoLDL. The acute injection of heparin in two normal subjects results in a two-and-a-half-fold increase in this rate of conversion of 75Se-apoVLDL to 75Se-apoLDL. 75Se-apoLDL is metabolized by rapid transport into a recycling extravascular pool and by irreversible catabolism. The fractional rate of recycling is large relative to the fractional rate of catabolism of apoLDL (3.7:1.0), suggesting extravascular recycling as a potential site of regulation of the plasma concentration of apoLDL. In a patient with type II hyperlipemia, the extravascular recycling pathway is reduced and is not corrected with D-thyroxine therapy. However, this therapy did reduce conversion of apoVLDL to apoLDL in this type II patient. The kinetic data support the validity of the compartmental model in simulating both normal and pathologic apoprotein metabolism and that perturbation of physiology seen with heparin injection and D-thyroxine therapy. These data support a quantitative role of apoVLDL as a precursor of apoLDL and identify an important recycling pathway of apoLDL metabolism in addition to that of catabolism.

The synthesis and release of alanine and glutamine have been studied in the intact rat epitrochlaris skeletal muscle preparation. Aspartate, cysteine, leucine, valine, methionine, isoleucine, serine, theronine, and glycine increased significantly the formation and release of alanine from muscle. Cysteine, leucine, valine, methionine, isoleucine, tyrosine, lysine, and phenylalanine increased the rate of glutamine synthesis. Only ornithine, arginine, and tryptophan were without effect on the synthesis of either alanine or glutamine. Half-maximal stimulation of alanine and glutamine formation by added amino acids was observed with concentrations ranging between 0.5 and 1.0 mM. Increases in alanine and glutamine formation were not accompanied by changes in pyruvate production or glucose uptake. The progressive decline in alanine and glutamine synthesis noted on prolonged incubation was prevented by the addition of amino acids to the incubation medium. Stimulation of alanine synthesis by added amino acids was unaffected by inhibition of glycolysis with iodoacetate. Inhibition of alanine aminotransferase with aminooxyacetate significantly decreased alanine formation. Pyruvate and ammonium chloride did not increase further the rate of either alanine or glutamine formation above that produced by added amino acids. These data indicate that most amino acids are precursors for alanine and glutamine synthesis in skeletal muscle. A general mechanism is presented for the de novo formation of alanine from amino acids in skeletal muscle, and the importance of proteolysis for the supply of amino acid precursors for alanine and glutamine synthesis is discussed.

Alanine and glutamine formation and release were studied using the intact epitrochlaris preparation of rat skeletal muscle. Epinephrine reduced the release of alanine and glutamine in a concentration-dependent manner. Measurable inhibition was observed at 10(-9) M epinephrine, and maximal inhibition was obtained at 10(-5) M. Norepinephrine also reduced alanine and glutamine formation and release but the concentration required for maximal inhibition was approximately 100-fold greater than for epinephrine. Isoproterenol (beta agonist), but not phenylephrine (alpha agonist), reproduced the effects of epinephrine, and propranolol (beta antagonist), but not phentolamine (alpha antagonist), blocked the effect of the catecholamine. N6,O2'-Dibutyryl adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate reproduced the effects of epinephrine and theophylline potentiated the effect of submaximal concentrations of the hormone. Glucagon and prostaglandin E2 had no observable effect on amino acid release. Insulin did not modify the inhibition of alanine and glutamine release produced by epinephrine. Alanine and glutamine formation from added precursor amino acids was unaffected by epinephrine or cyclic adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate. Epinephrine reduced alanine formation in muscles obtained from diabetic rats or animals treated with thyroxine or cortisone. These findings indicate that physiological levels of catecholamines reduce alanine and glutamine formation and release from skeletal muscle. This effect is mediated by a beta-adrenergic receptor and the adenylate cyclase system and can be accounted for by an inhibition of muscle protein degradation.

Polymerized and depolymerized forms of tubulin were measured in rat and mouse liver, rat islets, human lymphocytes, and platelets. The percent of the total tubulin present in the polymerized form varied from 30.3 +/- 1.5% in the liver of the fed rat to 89.2 +/- 0.2% in human platelets. Fasting decreased the total tubulin and to a greater extent the polymerized form of tubulin in both rat and mouse liver. Glucose feeding increased the polymerized tubulin without affecting the total tubulin content in rat liver. Phytohemagglutinin-stimulated lymphocytes exhibited at least a three-fold increase in total tubulin (expressed in terms of DNA content), which during the initial 48 h of incubation was accounted for in toto by an increase in polymerized tubulin. It is suggested that the lectin not only accelerates tubulin synthesis but also stimulated the polymerization process. Storage of platelets at 4 degrees C for 6 days resulted in a marked decrease in total tubulin and an even greater reduction in the polymerized form. It is concluded that both the total tubulin content and its degree of polymerization can be modulated independently by a wide variety of physiological factors.

The intraportal injection of 350 to 1,000 isolated islets into streptozotocin-diabetic rats immediately normalized (approximately 24 hours) fasting plasma glucose and insulin levels. Polyuria, polydipsia, and hyperglucagonemia disappeared more gradually over a 2-to-12-week period--the time required for normalization varying with the severity of the diabetes and the number of islets transplanted. In long-term islet-transplanted rats (greater than five months), the hepatic insulin and glucagon reserves averaged 50 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively, of the corresponding normal pancreatic hormone content. Glucagon was increased slightly in the pancreas of streptozotocin-diabetic rats and decreased considerably in transplanted animals. However, total pancreatic glucagon (i.e. pancreatic and hepatic reserves) in transplanted animals was the same as the pancreatic content of normal control rats, indicating the presence of feedback control mechanism(s) in the regulation of pancreatic glucagon reserves. Long-term transplanted islets demonstrated well-granulated A-, B-, and D-cell movement out of the vascular space and the formation of narrow intercellular spaces and junctional complexes with surrounding hepatocytes.

Tubulin represents a major protein in rat pancreatic islets, which averages 0.5% of the total protein content and 6% of the noninsulin protein synthesized under basal metabolic conditions. Glucose increases the synthesis of tubulin twofold to threefold. Tubulin synthesis is also stimulated by adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate in both the absence and presence of glucose; this effect of adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate occurs preferential to noninsulin protein synthesis at physiological glucose concentrations. Tubulin synthesis was decreased more than 75% by fasting, an effect prevented by maintaining animals on glucose exclusively. The fasting-induced reduction in tubulin synthesis is corrected in vitro by increasing adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate levels. These findings parallel changes previously reported in insulin release and suggest that physiological agents can exert their insulin secretory action through an effect upon the rate of tubulin synthesis.

"New" glucose production has been measured in 54 infants and children for the first time by continuous three-to-four-hour influsion of the safe, nonradioactive tracer 6,6-dideuteroglucose. The use of combined gas chromatography--mass spectrometry with monitoring of selected ions allowed deuterium enrichment in blood glucose to be measured on microliter samples with an error of less than 2 per cent. In the young child, glucose production increased in a slightly curvilinear manner from 1 kg. to 25 kg. body weight, when it reached 140 mg. per minute, almost the adult value of 173 mg. per minute (2.28 +/- 0.23 mg./kg.-min., mean +/- S.E.). Normalized for weight, glucose production in premature infants was 5.46 +/- 0.31 mg./kg.-min., in term neonates averaged 6.07 +/- 0.27 mg./kg.-min., in children below the age of six years was 7.1 +/- 0.27 mg./kg.-min., and in late childhood averaged 5.4 +/- 0.28 mg./kg.-min. Relative to estimated brain weight, however, glucose production was essentially linear from the 1-kg. premature infant to the 80-kg. adult. These data, the first measurements of "new" glucose production in childhood, suggest that brain size may be a principal determinant of those factors that regulate hepatic glucose output throughout life.

Lectins from Agaricus bisporus and Agaricus campestris stimulate insulin and glucagon release from isolated rat islets in the presence of 2 mM glucose. In the case of insulin release, maximal stimulation was observed at lectin concentrations above 58 mug. per milliliter (approximately 1 muM).A. bisporus PHA-B-stimulated insulin release was independent of a source of metabolic energy but was abolished by deuterium oxide. The lectin did not alter islet glucose oxidation to CO2 or incorporation of [3H] leucine into trichloracetic acid-precipitable material nor did it modify rates of insulin secretion induced by 20 mM glucose. None of nine other lectins tested stimulated insulin release, whereas stimulation of fat cell glucose oxidation was a general property of the lectins. Binding of 125I-labeled A. bisporus PHA-B to islets increased with time up to one hour and after attainment of equilibrium was very slowly reversible. Binding was directly proportional to islet number and the estimated Kdiss of the binding reaction was 17 mug per milliliter. The total number of A. bisporus PHA-B binding sites per islet was approximately 2 times 10(10). Binding of A. bisporus PHA-B to the islets and A. bisporus PHA-B-stimulated insulin release were inhibited in parallel by a glycopeptide containing the oligosaccharide receptor for the lectin, suggesting that lectin binding is essential for the expression of insulin-releasing activity. It is proposed that the specific interaction between mushroom lectin and its receptors may lead to conformational changes in the structure of the membranes of the islet A2- and B-cells that facilitate exocytosis.

Studies of adipocyte metabolism were performed in twelve male subjects with normal plasma lipids and eleven male patients with Type IV or Type V hyperlipoproteinemia. Patients with obesity or diabetes mellitus were excluded from the study. Although all patients had normal glucose tolerance tests, the blood glucose levels during these tests were higher in the hyperlipoproteinemic patients than in the normal control subjects and the plasma insulin responses were even more strikingly elevated in the hyperlipemic group. Adipocytes isolated from hypertriglyceridemic subjects were larger than those obtained from normal individuals and exhibited increased activities of both Type I and Type II hexokinase and increased rates of glucose oxidation and lipogenesis from glucose. Cell size, hexokinase isoenzyme activities and rates of lipogenesis from glucose were all strongly correlated with each other, but none of these measurements were correlated with glucose oxidation. It is not known how the adipocyte abnormalities are related to the lipid transport disorder.

Hog anterior pituitary secretory granules sediment at 3,000 g. When rat or rabbit skeletal muscle actin filaments are present with the granules, the sedimentation decreases markedly. Depolymerized actin or viscous solutions of Ficoll and collagen have no effect on granule sedimentation. With this assay, actin filaments bind secretory granules (consisting of the proteinaceous core plus limiting membrane), secretory granule membranes, mitochondria, artificial lecithin liposomes, and styrene-butadiene microspheres, but have little or no interaction with membrane-free secretory granule cores and albumin microspheres. A secretory granule-actin complex sedimentable between 3,000 g and 25,000 g can be isolated. Metal ions, nucleotides, salts, dithiothreitol, or pretreatment of the granules with trypsin do not destroy the binding, which appears to be a lipophilic interaction.