Habiba Najafi

Concordant Glucose Induction of Glucokinase, Glucose Usage, and Glucose-Stimulated Insulin Release in Pancreatic Islets Maintained in Organ Culture

Using cultured islets as the experimental system, this study established dosage-response and time-dependency curves of the inductive glucose effect on glucose-stimulated insulin release, glucose usage, and glucokinase activity. Glucose-stimulated insulin release in islets cultured for 1, 2, or 7 days was increased as a function of glucose concentration in the culture medium and as a function of time. Glucose usage in the cultured islets showed a close relationship with glucose concentration in the culture medium at both 2 and 7 days of culture. Glucokinase activity increased in islets cultured for 1, 2, or 7 days as a function of increasing glucose concentrations in the culture medium and as a function of time. The Vmax of glucokinase in islets cultured for 7 days in medium containing 30 mM glucose was twice the value of freshly isolated islets and was almost fivefold higher than that in islets cultured for 7 days in 3 mM glucose. The glucose induction of glucose-stimulated insulin release, of glucose usage, and of glucokinase activity were tightly correlated. The biochemical mechanisms of glucose induction of islet glucokinase were further studied. Immunoblotting with an antibody against C-terminal peptide of glucokinase showed that densities of a 52,000-kD protein band from tissue extracts of islets cultured for 7 days in 3, 12, and 30 mM glucose were 25, 44, and 270% compared with that of extract from freshly isolated islets (100%). RNA blot analysis of glucokinase mRNA demonstrated virtually the same levels in fresh islets and islets after 7 days of culture in 3 or 30 mM glucose. The adaptive response of glucokinase to glucose appears therefore to be occurring at a translational or posttranslational site in cultured islets. These data greatly strengthen the concept that glucose is the regulator that induces the activity of glucokinase, which in turn determines the rate change of glucose usage as well as glucose-stimulated insulin release from β-cells. Thus, the hypothesis that glucokinase is the glucose sensor of β-cells is strengthened further.

Regulation of Leucine-stimulated Insulin Secretion and Glutamine Metabolism in Isolated Rat Islets

Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) is regulated by both positive (leucine and ADP) and negative (GTP and ATP) allosteric factors. We hypothesized that the phosphate potential of β-cells regulates the sensitivity of leucine stimulation. These predictions were tested by measuring leucine-stimulated insulin secretion in perifused rat islets following glucose depletion and by tracing the nitrogen flux of [2-15N]glutamine using stable isotope techniques. The sensitivity of leucine stimulation was enhanced by long time (120-min) energy depletion and inhibited by glucose pretreatment. After limited 50-min glucose depletion, leucine, not α-ketoisocaproate, failed to stimulate insulin release. β-Cells sensitivity to leucine is therefore proposed to be a function of GDH activation. Leucine increased the flux through GDH 3-fold compared with controls while causing insulin release. High glucose inhibited flux through both glutaminase and GDH, and leucine was unable to override this inhibition. These results clearly show that leucine induced the secretion of insulin by augmenting glutaminolysis through activating glutaminase and GDH. Glucose regulates β-cell sensitivity to leucine by elevating the ratio of ATP and GTP to ADP and Pi and thereby decreasing the flux through GDH and glutaminase. These mechanisms provide an explanation for hypoglycemia caused by mutations of GDH in children.

Green Tea Polyphenols Modulate Insulin Secretion by Inhibiting Glutamate Dehydrogenase

Insulin secretion by pancreatic β-cells is stimulated by glucose, amino acids, and other metabolic fuels. Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) has been shown to play a regulatory role in this process. The importance of GDH was underscored by features of hyperinsulinemia/hyperammonemia syndrome, where a dominant mutation causes the loss of inhibition by GTP and ATP. Here we report the effects of green tea polyphenols on GDH and insulin secretion. Of the four compounds tested, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and epicatechin gallate were found to inhibit GDH with nanomolar ED50 values and were therefore found to be as potent as the physiologically important inhibitor GTP. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that EGCG inhibits BCH-stimulated insulin secretion, a process that is mediated by GDH, under conditions where GDH is no longer inhibited by high energy metabolites. EGCG does not affect glucose-stimulated insulin secretion under high energy conditions where GDH is probably fully inhibited. We have further shown that these compounds act in an allosteric manner independent of their antioxidant activity and that the β-cell stimulatory effects are directly correlated with glutamine oxidation. These results demonstrate that EGCG, much like the activator of GDH (BCH), can facilitate dissecting the complex regulation of insulin secretion by pharmacologically modulating the effects of GDH.

Effects of a GTP-insensitive Mutation of Glutamate Dehydrogenase on Insulin Secretion in Transgenic Mice

Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) plays an important role in insulin secretion as evidenced in children by gain of function mutations of this enzyme that cause a hyperinsulinism-hyperammonemia syndrome (GDH-HI) and sensitize β-cells to leucine stimulation. GDH transgenic mice were generated to express the human GDH-HI H454Y mutation and human wild-type GDH in islets driven by the rat insulin promoter. H454Y transgene expression was confirmed by increased GDH enzyme activity in islets and decreased sensitivity to GTP inhibition. The H454Y GDH transgenic mice had hypoglycemia with normal growth rates. H454Y GDH transgenic islets were more sensitive to leucine- and glutamine-stimulated insulin secretion but had decreased response to glucose stimulation. The fluxes via GDH and glutaminase were measured by tracing 15N flux from [2-15N]glutamine. The H454Y transgene in islets had higher insulin secretion in response to glutamine alone and had 2-fold greater GDH flux. High glucose inhibited both glutaminase and GDH flux, and leucine could not override this inhibition. 15NH4Cl tracing studies showed 15N was not incorporated into glutamate in either H454Y transgenic or normal islets. In conclusion, we generated a GDH-HI disease mouse model that has a hypoglycemia phenotype and confirmed that the mutation of H454Y is disease causing. Stimulation of insulin release by the H454Y GDH mutation or by leucine activation is associated with increased oxidative deamination of glutamate via GDH. This study suggests that GDH functions predominantly in the direction of glutamate oxidation rather than glutamate synthesis in mouse islets and that this flux is tightly controlled by glucose.

Identification of Glucokinase as an Alloxan-Sensitive Glucose Sensor of the Pancreatic β-Cell

Alloxan inactivated glucokinase in intact, isolated pancreatic islets incubated in vitro. Inactivation of glucokinase was antagonized by 30 mM glucose present during incubation of islets with alloxan. Glucokinase partially purified from transplantable insulinomas or rat liver was inactivated by alloxan with a half-maximal effect at 2–4 μM alloxan. Inactivation of purified glucokinase was antagonized by glucose, mannose, and 2-deoxyglucose in order of decreasing potency but not by 3-O-methylglucose. Glucose anomers at 6 and 14 mM were discriminated as protecting agents, with the α-anomer more effective than the β-anomer. Glucokinase was not protected from alloxan inactivation by N-acetylglucosamine, indicating that the reactive site for alloxan is not the active site; therefore, glucose may protect glucokinase by inducing a conformational change. Glucokinase is thought to be the glucose sensor of the pancreatic β-cell. The finding that glucokinase is inactivated by alloxan and protected by glucose with discrimination of its anomers similar to inhibition of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion by alloxan supports this hypothesis and appears to explain the mechanism for inhibition of hexose-stimulated insulin secretion by this agent and the unique role of glucose and mannose as protecting agents.

Control of Glucose Metabolism in Pancreatic β-Cells by Glucokinase, Hexokinase and Phosphofructokinase: Model Study With Cell Lines Derived From β-Cells

Glucose usage by soluble fractions of cell extracts from two insulin-producing cell lines, RINm5F and HIT, was investigated. Analysis of enzyme activities indicated that glucose phosphorylation and phosphofructokinase are likely to be the rate-limiting steps of glycolysis in both RINm5F and HIT cell extracts. RINm5F extracts, which lack glucokinase, exhibited relatively flat concentration-dependency curves of glucose usage and showed substantial inhibition of hexokinase. HIT cell extracts, which contain glucokinase but lack hexokinase, exhibited sigmoidal concentration-dependency curves of glucose usage,reflecting almost fully expressed glucokinase activity. A reconstituted system prepared from RINm5F and HIT cell extracts exhibited a composite concentration-dependency curve of glucose usage and showed substantial inhibition of hexokinase and almost fully expressed glucokinase. However, conditions that activate phosphofructokinase, such as addition of ammonium sulfate or fructose 2,6-bisphosphate or alkalization, removed the inhibition of hexokinase without noticeably affecting the glucokinase component of usage. Results obtained with a reconstituted system containing RINm5F cell extract and purified glucokinase were consistent with these findings. The data presented here indicate that this reconstituted cell-free system serves as a valid model for the study of aspects of glycolytic control in the islet. This model illustrates the preeminent role of glucokinase in the control of glycolysis, consistent with its glucose-sensor function in the islet. In addition, these studies help to define the contribution of phosphofructokinase to the control of glycolysis and the mechanism whereby changes in phosphofructokinase activity could modulate, viachanges in the glucose 6-phosphate concentration, the activity of hexokinase and hence the net glycolyticflux.

Elimination of KATP Channels in Mouse Islets Results in Elevated [U-13C]Glucose Metabolism, Glutaminolysis, and Pyruvate Cycling but a Decreased γ-Aminobutyric Acid Shunt

Pancreatic beta cells are hyper-responsive to amino acids but have decreased glucose sensitivity after deletion of the sulfonylurea receptor 1 (SUR1) both in man and mouse. It was hypothesized that these defects are the consequence of impaired integration of amino acid, glucose, and energy metabolism in beta cells. We used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry methodology to study intermediary metabolism of SUR1 knock-out (SUR1-/-) and control mouse islets with d-[U-13C]glucose as substrate and related the results to insulin secretion. The levels and isotope labeling of alanine, aspartate, glutamate, glutamine, and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) served as indicators of intermediary metabolism. We found that the GABA shunt of SUR1-/- islets is blocked by about 75% and showed that this defect is due to decreased glutamate decarboxylase synthesis, probably caused by elevated free intracellular calcium. Glutaminolysis stimulated by the leucine analogue d,l-β-2-amino-2-norbornane-carboxylic acid was, however, enhanced in SUR1-/- and glyburide-treated SUR1+/+ islets. Glucose oxidation and pyruvate cycling was increased in SUR1-/- islets at low glucose but was the same as in controls at high glucose. Malic enzyme isoforms 1, 2, and 3, involved in pyruvate cycling, were all expressed in islets. High glucose lowered aspartate and stimulated glutamine synthesis similarly in controls and SUR1-/- islets. The data suggest that the interruption of the GABA shunt and the lack of glucose regulation of pyruvate cycling may cause the glucose insensitivity of the SUR1-/- islets but that enhanced basal pyruvate cycling, lowered GABA shunt flux, and enhanced glutaminolytic capacity may sensitize the beta cells to amino acid stimulation.

Fuel-Stimulated Insulin Secretion by Clonal Hamster β-Cell Line HIT T-15

Insulin secretion by monolayer cultures of HIT T-15 cells was measured in response to various fuel molecules (glucose, dihydroxyacetone, lactate, glutamine, α-ketoisocaproic acid, α-ketoisovaleric acid) and a nonmetabolized glucose analogue (3-O-methylglucose). HIT cells secreted insulin in response to fuel molecules, but 3-O-methylglucose was ineffective. Stimulation of insulin release by fuels was increased by isobutylmethylxanthine and blocked by antimycin A. lodoacetate selectively inhibited glucose-stimulated insulin release but had little effect on α-ketoisocaproic acid-stimulated insulin secretion. These results indicate that HIT cells retain the capacity of normal β-cells to act as fuel sensors. Thus, HIT cells may provide a well-defined and relatively abundant tissue source in studies of stimulus-secretion coupling in β-cells stimulated by fuels.

Effects of Glucose on Insulin Secretion, Glucokinase Activity, and Transgene Expression in Transgenic Mouse Islets Containing an Upstream Glucokinase Promoter-Human Growth Hormone Fusion Gene

We have analyzed in organ culture the effects of glucose on glucose-induced insulin secretion, glucokinase (GK) activity, and human growth hormone (hGH) expression in pancreatic islets from transgenic mice containing an upstream GK promoter-hGH fusion gene. Freshly isolated islets from these mice had a normal insulin secretory response to glucose but showed subtle defects after culture in low or high glucose for 4 days that may have been due to the accumulation of hGH in the culture media. Islets cultured from both normal and transgenic mice had approximately a fourfold induction of GK activity in response to an increased concentration of glucose in the culture media, whereas no such change in total islet hGH production was observed. Immunocytochemical localization of hGH in islets cultured in 3 mM glucose showed a pattern similar to that in freshly isolated islets. However, after culture in 30 mM glucose, hGH immunostaining became strikingly more heterogeneous. We conclude 1) that GK-hGH transgene expression does not appear to adversely affect glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in vivo or in freshly isolated islets, 2) that glucose does not induce transgene expression, thus providing additional evidence against an effect of glucose on GK gene transcription in the islet, and 3) that glucose stimulates the co-release of hGH with insulin, thereby enhancing the heterogeneous staining pattern seen among pancreatic β-cells.

Glucose transport by radiation-induced insulinoma and clonal pancreatic beta-cells.

Sugar uptake was measured in dispersed cells prepared from radiation-induced insulinomas transplantable in NEDH rats and in three clonal beta-cell lines maintained in continuous culture (RIN m5F, RIN 1046, HIT). Uptake of D-glucose and 3-O-methyl-D-glucose by insulinoma cells was rapid so that the intracellular concentration of D-hexoses approximated the concentration in the incubation medium by 15-30 s. L-Glucose was taken up only slowly. 3-O-methyl-D-glucose uptake by RIN m5F, RIN 1046, and HIT cells was slow; with 1 mM 3-O-methylglucose in the medium, equilibrium was attained at 20 min, but with 10 mM 3-O-methylglucose, equilibrium was not attained even at 20 min. In HIT cells incubated with D-glucose for 30 min, the intracellular concentration of glucose was less than the medium glucose concentration, indicating glucose transport is a nonequilibrium reaction in this cell line. These data indicate that radiation-induced insulinoma cells retain the capacity of normal beta-cells to transport sugar at high rates. RIN m5F, RIN 1046, and HIT cells transport sugar slowly, however, and thus differ from normal beta-cells. In RIN m5F, RIN 1046, and HIT cells, unlike in normal beta-cells, glucose transport may be the site regulating glucose metabolism.