Amador Albor

Stimulus-secretion coupling of arginine-induced insulin release. Metabolism of L-arginine and L-ornithine in pancreatic islets

Exogenous L-arginine and L-ornithine rapidly accumulate in rat pancreatic islets. L-Arginine is converted to L-ornithine and urea. Endogenous or exogenous L-ornithine generates di- and polyamines, the putrescine turnover being faster than that of spermidine and spermine. However, the major pathway for L-ornithine metabolism consists of its transamination to L-glutamaldehyde and further conversion to L-glutamate. The amines and L-glutamate derived from exogenous L-ornithine are incorporated into islet proteins at the intervention of transglutaminase and cycloheximide-sensitive biosynthetic processes, respectively. These findings suggest the hypothesis that the insulinotropic action of L-arginine and L-ornithine could somehow be related to the metabolism of these cationic amino acids in islet cells.

Stimulus-secretion coupling of arginine-induced insulin release: metabolism of l-arginine and l-ornithine in tumoral islet cells

The metabolism of L-arginine and L-ornithine was examined in tumoral islet cells of the RINm5F line and compared to the situation previously characterized in normal rat islets. The maximal velocity of arginase in cell homogenates, as well as either the production of 14C-urea or the steady-state content of 14C-labelled ornithine in intact cells exposed to L-[U-14C]arginine were about one order of magnitude lower in tumoral than normal islet cells. The activity of ornithine-glutamate transaminase was similar in both cell types, and this coincided with a comparable rate of 14C-labelled L-glutamate generation by intact cells exposed to L-[1-14C]ornithine. Despite a comparable cell content in 14C-labelled ornithine of normal and tumoral cells exposed to exogenous ornithine, the rate of di- and polyamine generation was about one order of magnitude higher in tumoral than normal islet cells, this coinciding with a much higher activity of ornithine decarboxylase in RINm5F cell than islet homogenates.

Effect of a phospho-oligosaccharidic putative insulin messenger on insulin release in rats.

SummaryThe phospho-oligosaccharide extracted from rat liver and supposed to act as the insulin second messenger inhibits glucose-stimulated insulin release. In the present study, this phospho-oligosaccharide was found not to affect D-[U-14C]glucose oxidation and 45Ca net uptake, but to inhibit insulin release evoked by either D-glucose or 2-ketoisocaproate in isolated rat islets. The relative extent of the latter inhibition was unaffected by either the concentration of D-glucose or the presence of dibutyryl-cyclic AMP, forskolin or glucagon in the incubation medium. At variance with the inhibitory effect of clonidine, that of the phospho-oligosaccharide was resistant to both blockade of α2-adrenergic receptors or pre-treatment with the toxin of Bordetella pertussis. It is speculated, therefore, that such a phospho-oligosaccharide might interfere with a distal event in the insulin secretory sequence.