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Evidence for glucose-responsive and -unresponsive pools of phospholipid in pancreatic islets.

The effect of glucose on the metabolism of phospholipids in pancreatic islets was studied with three radioactive phospholipid precursors, [32P]orthophosphate, [3H]myoinositol, and [3H]arachidonic acid, to determine the conditions necessary for studying the breakdown of prelabeled phospholipids. Islets were incubated in the presence of a radioactive precursor for 60 or 90 min and in the presence of either 3.3 or 16.7 mM glucose to prelabel phospholipids. To study the breakdown of prelabeled phospholipid, the unincorporated precursor was removed and the islets were reincubated for 15 or 20 min under conditions that either did or did not stimulate insulin release. Prelabeling in the presence of a noninsulinotropic concentration of glucose (3.3 mM) supported the incorporation of precursors into almost all islet phospholipids studied. Prelabeling in an insulinotropic concentration of glucose (16.7 mM) increased the incorporation of precursors into a number of phospholipids even more; and reincubation in 16.7 mM glucose caused a rapid loss of radioactivity from specific phospholipids (phosphatidylinositol and/or phosphatidylcholine, depending on the precursor). This breakdown was observed only when islets had been prelabeled in 16.7 mM glucose. The amount of radioactivity lost from phospholipid corresponded roughly to the additional amount incorporated during the prelabeling in the high concentration of glucose. Radioactivity in phospholipids in islets prelabeled in 3.3 mM glucose or in nonsecretagogue metabolic fuels, such as malate plus pyruvate, did not decrease when the islets were subsequently exposed to 16.7 mM glucose, nor did it decrease in 3.3 mM glucose when these islets had been prelabeled in 16.7 mM glucose. Glyceraldehyde, an insulin secretagogue, but not galactose or L-glucose which are not insulin secretagogues, stimulated phospholipid breakdown in islets that had been prelabeled in 16.7 mM glucose. Depriving islets of extracellular calcium, a condition that inhibits insulin release, inhibited phospholipid breakdown. The results suggest that pancreatic islets contain a glucose-responsive and a glucose-unresponsive phospholipid pool. The glucose-responsive pool becomes labeled and undergoes rapid turnover only under stimulatory conditions and may play a role in the stimulus-secretion coupling of insulin release.

Animals↗

The influence of insulin and of contraction on glucose metabolism in the perfused diaphragm muscle from normal and streptozotocin-treated rats.

1. The metabolism of [U-(14)C]glucose in perfused resting and contracting diaphragm muscle from normal rats and rats made diabetic with streptozotocin was studied in the presence and absence of insulin. 2. The incorporation of [U-(14)C]-glucose into glycogen and oligosaccharides was stimulated by insulin under all experimental conditions studied. 3. In the normal perfused resting diaphragm muscle the incorporation of radioactivity from [(14)C]glucose into lactate and CO(2) was not affected by insulin. 4. Periodic contractions, induced by electrical stimulation of the perfused diaphragm muscle in the absence of insulin, caused an increased incorporation of (14)C into glycogen and hexose phosphate esters, whereas incorporation of (14)C into lactate was greatly decreased. Production of (14)CO(2) in the contracting muscle was not significantly different from that in resting muscle. Addition of insulin to the perfusion liquid caused a further increase in formation of [(14)C]-glycogen in contracting muscle to values reached in the resting muscle in the presence of insulin. Formation of [(14)C]lactate was also stimulated by insulin, to values close to those found in the resting muscle in the presence of insulin. 5. In the diabetic resting muscle the rate of glucose metabolism was very low in the absence of insulin. Insulin increased formation of [(14)C]glycogen to the value found in normal muscle in the absence of insulin. Production of (14)CO(2) and formation of [(14)C]hexose phosphate remained unchanged. 6. In the diabetic contracting muscle production of (14)CO(2) was increased to values approaching those found in normal contracting muscle. Formation of [(14)C]lactate and [(14)C]glycogen was also increased by contraction, to normal values. Only traces of [(14)C]hexose phosphate were detectable. Addition of insulin to the perfusion medium stimulated formation of [(14)C]glycogen, to values found in normal contracting muscle. Production of [(14)C]hexose phosphate was stimulated by insulin, to approximately the values found in the normal contracting muscle. Production of (14)CO(2) and [(14)C]lactate, however, was not significantly affected by insulin. 7. These results indicate that the defects of glucose metabolism observed in perfused resting diabetic diaphragm muscle can be partially corrected by contraction, and in the presence of insulin the contracting diabetic muscle has a completely normal pattern of glycogen synthesis and lactate production, but CO(2) production remains impaired.

Animals↗

Metabolism and distribution of [14C]glucose in rats treated with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD).

Male Sprague-Dawley rats were given a single, usually lethal, dose of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD, 125 micrograms/kg ip in corn oil), or vehicle alone. Twenty-four hours after ip administration of TCDD the animals received an ip injection of 14C-labeled glucose, and the time course and amount of exhalation of 14CO2 were monitored for 8 h continuously and once daily for 20 min for the subsequent 5 d. TCDD treatment reduced the amount of 14CO2 exhaled within 8 h after the injection of [14C]glucose by 33%, as compared to pair-fed controls. Blood levels of radioactivity were affected by TCDD accordingly. No particular organ appeared to act as a sink for the radioactivity not exhaled during these 8 h by the treated animals. TCDD (125 micrograms/kg) induced significant changes in the disposition of radioactivity in heart and brown adipose tissue between 25 and 125 min after the iv injection of [14C]glucose. The areas under the curve of [14C]glucose-derived radioactivity were the same after either iv or ip injection in the blood of TCDD-treated rats, allowing a direct comparison of experiments with iv or ip injection of [14C]glucose. The half-lives of radioactivity in the exhaled air and in feces of treated animals were greatly elevated during the 5 d following administration of [14C]glucose. These results indicate that TCDD induces in rats, within 24 h after dosing, alterations in the metabolism of glucose that preceded changes in insulin homeostasis, because hypoglycemia and hypoinsulinemia in rats do not occur until about a week after TCDD treatment. Since overt signs of acute toxicity (reduced feed intake and body weight loss) are also not noticeable until several days after a lethal dose of TCDD, it is probable that this earlier disturbance of glucose metabolism is part of the biological changes that result in wasting away and eventually in death.

Animals↗

Regulation of basal and insulin-stimulated glycogen synthesis in cultured hepatocytes. Inverse relationship to glycogen content.

Cultured rat hepatocytes were used to characterize the relationship between cellular glycogen content and the basal rate, as well as response to insulin of glycogen synthesis. Depending on the concentration of medium glucose, glycogen-depleted monolayers accumulated glycogen between 24 and 48 h of culture up to the fed in vivo level. Insulin at 100 nM stimulated glycogen deposition 20-fold at 1 mM and 1.5-fold at 50 mM glucose. The rate of further glycogen storage decreased with time and increasing glycogen content. In hepatocytes preincubated with 1-50 mM glucose during 24-48 h, short-term basal and insulin-dependent incorporation of 10 mM [14C]glucose into glycogen was inversely related to the actual cellular glycogen content. This was not due to different intracellular dilution of the label, since the specific radioactivity of UDP-glucose was similar in all groups. 125I-Insulin binding indicated that insulin receptors were also not involved in this phenomenon. An inverse relationship was also found between glycogen content and the stimulation of glycogen synthase I activity by insulin, whereas the basal activity of the enzyme was dissociated from the rate of incorporation of [14C]glucose. Basal net glycogen deposition at 10 mM glucose was also inversely related to cellular glycogen; however, no such relation was evident in the presence of insulin due to the overlapping inhibition of glycogenolysis. These studies suggest that the glycogen-mediated inhibition of the activation of glycogen synthase I is operative in the cultured hepatocyte and leads to an apparent inverse relationship between the actual glycogen content and basal as well as insulin-dependent glycogenesis.

Animals↗

Random, presumably hydrolytic, and lysosomal glycogenolysis in the livers of rats treated with phlorizin and of newborn rats.

1. The glycogen formed in the livers of adult rats was labelled by injection of [1-14C] galactose soon after initiation of re-feeding after starvation. The rats were anaesthetized 4h later and glycogenolysis was induced by giving them a mixture of glucagon and insulin. In confirmation of previous work [Devos & Hers (1979) Eur J. Biochem. 99, 161-167],, there was a delay in degradation of the labelled glycogen by comparison with total glycogen. This pattern is considered as characteristic of an ordered glycogenolysis. Treatment of rats with phlorizin abolished the difference between the fate of labelled and total glycogen, causing, therefore, a random glycogenolysis. 2. Foetal liver glycogen was made radioactive by injecting [14C] glucose into the mother at the 19.5 day of gestation, i.e. at the time when this glycogen starts to be synthesized. During the postnatal degradation of this glycogen, radioactive and total glycogen were degraded at approximately the same rate, indicating that glycogenolysis occurred at random. In contrast, when puromycin was injected into the newborn rats, there was a delay in he degradation of the labelled glycogen as compared with that of total glycogen, as currently observed in the normal adult liver. 3. These data are discussed in relation with the fact that glycogen-filled vacuoles are currently seen in the livers of adult rats treated with phlorizin, and also in the neonatal livers, and that puromycin is known to cause the disappearance of these autophagic pictures in the liver of newborn rats. It is suggested that random glycogenolysis occurs through hydrolysis by the lysosomal acid alpha-glucosidase, in the course of autophagy.

Animals↗

The effects of glibenclamide on rat islet radioactive nucleotide efflux, ATP contents and respiratory rates.

In order to assess the effects of sulphonylurea on islet function, changes in radioactive nucleotide efflux, ATP contents and oxygen uptake of low or high glucose cultured rat islets in response to glibenclamide were determined. It was observed that: (1) low glucose cultured islets displayed a prompt increase in radioactive efflux in response to glibenclamide when perfused in the presence of 1.7, 5.6 and 11.1 mM glucose. The response was most prominent in the presence of 5.6 mM glucose. (2) High glucose cultured islet did not respond to glibenclamide with increased radioactive efflux in the presence of 11.1 mM glucose, in contrast to the effects in the presence of 1.7 or 5.6 mM glucose. The sulphonylurea-induced changes could be delayed by adding glibenclamide in parallel with a decrease in glucose from 20 to 1.7 mM. (3) No effects of glibenclamide on radioactive nucleotide efflux from either low or high glucose cultured islets could be observed in the absence of extracellular Ca2+. (4) Glibenclamide decreased the islet ATP content of low glucose cultured islets in the presence of 5.6 mM glucose. On the contrary, the ATP content of high glucose cultured islets was increased by glibenclamide with 1.7 mM glucose present. (5) Islet respiration was increased by adding glucose in both high or low glucose cultured islets, although respiration in the presence of both 5.6 and 11.1 mM glucose was higher in high glucose cultured islets. (6) The addition of glibenclamide decreased oxygen uptake of low glucose cultured islets in the presence of 5.6 and 11.1 mM glucose and that of high glucose cultured islets at all glucose concentrations tested (1.7, 5.6 and 11.1 mM). It is concluded that glibenclamide-induced changes in radioactive nucleotide efflux may reflect metabolic and ionic changes of importance to islet functions.

Adenine Nucleotides↗

Effects of ammonia and norvaline on lactate metabolism by hepatocytes from starved rats. The use of 14C-labelled lactate in studies of hepatic gluconeogenesis.

1. Hepatocytes from starved rats were incubated with l-lactate and NH(4)Cl or norvaline, and the rates of the tricarboxylic acid cycle and of gluconeogenesis were calculated from changes in metabolite concentrations or from radioisotopic data from incubations with labelled lactate or propionate. 2. Gluconeogenesis was stimulated by the addition of 10mm-NH(4)Cl, 5mm-norvaline or 1mm-oleate by 27, 45 and 59% respectively. NH(4)Cl or norvaline also increased lactate uptake. Norvaline inhibited urea synthesis from NH(4)Cl by 85%. 3. The effects of NH(4)Cl and norvaline were not additive. However, NH(4)Cl inhibited and norvaline was without effect on gluconeogenesis from pyruvate, indicating that the two compounds act by different mechanisms. 4. The tricarboxylic acid-cycle flux was increased 80% by lactate, and NH(4)Cl caused a further 25% stimulation. Norvaline had no effect on the tricarboxylic acid-cycle flux. NH(4)Cl and norvaline tripled and doubled, respectively, flux through pyruvate dehydrogenase. 5. Total ATP formation was calculated to range from 470 to 830mumol/h per 100mg of protein, of which the basic metabolic activity accounted for 400-450mumol/h per 100mg of protein. ATP formation does not seem to be rate-limiting for gluconeogenesis. 6. Pyruvate recycling was estimated from the (14)C yield from [1-(14)C]propionate in lactate and glucose to be 10-30% of the flux of phosphoenolpyruvate to glucose. The further addition of NH(4)Cl more than doubled the recycling of pyruvate. 7. [1,4-(14)C]Succinate was rapidly metabolized by hepatocytes. About 20% of the radioactivity was recovered in glucose, indicating that succinate is also metabolized by intact (non-damaged) hepatocytes. 8. It is concluded that the metabolism of lactate by the liver is too complex to allow simple rate measurements with labelled compounds.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

Measurement of the turnover of substrates of carbohydrate and protein metabolism using radioactive isotopes.

The rate of turnover of glucose or leucine can be measured in the steady state by using the radioactive isotopes 14C or 3H to 'trace' these metabolites. The tracer can either be injected or infused intravenously and its metabolism followed by monitoring levels of the tracer in blood, breath and urine. If a 14C labelled metabolite is used the oxidation rate may sometimes be determined by measuring the expiry rate of 14CO2. If the single injection technique is used the specific activity curve is fitted with an exponential function and the area under the curve calculated. Turnover rate is calculated from dose of isotope injected/area under the specific activity time curve. This technique can be used to construct a compartmental model to describe the behaviour of the metabolite. If the constant infusion technique is used, tracer is infused until a steady state level of tracer is achieved. This plateau is used to calculate the turnover of the metabolite from infusion rate of tracer/specific activity at steady state. While this latter method provides the simplest method of calculating turnover it cannot be used to model the data. The infusion technique can be used to measure changes in turnover and oxidation in the non-steady state. Tracer is infused to a steady state level and the system is then perturbed by for example, the infusion of a hormone. The changes in Ra and Rd can be determined either by using the Steele equation which assumes a single pool or by using compartmental analysis.

Amino Acids↗

Preferential utilization of ketone bodies for the synthesis of myelin cholesterol in vivo.

1. The distribution of radioactivity among lipid classes of myelin and other subcellular brain fractions of young rats (18-21 days) was determined after in vivo injection of (3-(14)C-labelled ketone bodies, [U-(14)C] glucose or [2-(14)C] glucose. 2. The incorporation ratios (sterol/fatty acids) were 0.67, 1.48, 0.25, 0.62 and 0.54 for whole brain, myelin, mitochondria, microsomes and synaptosomes, respectively, with (3-(14)C)-labelled ketone bodies as substrate and 0.37, 0.89, 0.19, 0.34 and 0.29 with [U-(14)C] glucose as substrate. These data show that, both in whole brain and in subcellular brain fractions, acetyl groups derived from ketone bodies are used for sterol synthesis to a large extent than acetyl groups originating from glucose. 3. The specific radioactivity of cholesterol is much higher in myelin than in whole brain or in the other brain fractions, particularly after administration of labelled ketone bodies as substrate. 4. The incorporation patterns of acetoacetate and D-3-hydroxybutyrate were very similar, indicating that both ketone bodies contribute acetyl groups for lipid synthesis via the same metabolic route. 5. Our data suggest that a direct metabolic path from ketone bodies towards cholesterol exists - possibly via acetoacetyl-CoA formation in the cytosol of brain cells - and that this process is most active in oligodendrocytes.

Animals↗

The fuel of respiration of rat kidney cortex.

1. In kidney-cortex slices from the well-fed rat, glucose (5mm) supplied 25-30% of the respiratory fuel; in the starved state, the corresponding value was 10%. These results are based on measurements of the net uptake of glucose and of the specific radioactivity of labelled carbon dioxide formed in the presence of [U-(14)C]-glucose. 2. Added acetoacetate (5mm) or butyrate (10mm) provided up to 80%, and added oleate (2mm) up to 50% of the fuel of respiration. The oxidation of endogenous substrates was suppressed correspondingly. 3. More [U-(14)C]oleate was removed by the tissue than could be oxidized by the amount of oxygen taken up; less than 25% of the oleate removed was converted into respiratory carbon dioxide and about two-thirds was incorporated into the tissue lipids. The rate of oleate incorporation into the neutral-lipid fraction was calculated to be equivalent to the rate of oxidation of endogenous fat, which provided the chief remaining fuel. 4. The contribution of endogenous substrates to the respiration (50%) in the presence of added oleate is taken to reflect either a high turnover rate of the endogenous neutral lipids (approx. half-life 2.5hr.) or a raised rate of lipolysis caused by the experimental conditions in vitro. 5. Added l-alpha-glycerophosphate (2.5mm) increased oleate incorporation into the neutral-lipid fraction by up to 40% (i.e. caused a net synthesis of triglyceride). 6. Lactate (2.5mm) added as sole substrate supplied 30% of the respiratory fuel, but with added oleate (2mm) lactate was converted quantitatively into glucose. Oleate stimulated the rate of gluconeogenesis from lactate by 45%. 7. The oxidation of both long-chain and short-chain even-numbered fatty acids was accompanied by ketone-body formation. Ketone-body synthesis from oleate, but not from butyrate, increased six- to seven-fold after 48hr. of starvation. The maximum rates of renal ketogenesis (80mumoles/hr./g. dry wt., with butyrate) were about 20% of the maximum rates observed in the liver (on a weight-for-weight basis) and accounted for, at most, 35% of the fatty acid removed. 8. dl-Carnitine (1.0mm) had no effect on the rates of uptake of acetate, butyrate or oleate or on the rate of radioactive carbon dioxide formation from [U-(14)C]oleate, but increased ketone-body formation from oleate by more than 100%. Ketone-body formation from butyrate was not increased. 9. There is evidence supporting the assumption that there are cells in which gluconeogenesis and ketogenesis occur together, characterized by equal labelling of [U-(14)C]oleate and the ketone bodies formed, and other cells that oxidize fat and do not form ketone bodies. 10. Inhibitory effects of unlabelled acetoacetate on the oxidation of [1-(14)C]butyrate and of unlabelled butyrate on [4-(14)C]acetoacetate oxidation show that fatty acids and ketone bodies compete as fuels on the basis of their relative concentrations. 11. The pathway of ketogenesis in renal cortex must differ from that of the liver, as beta-hydroxy-beta-methylglutaryl-CoA synthetase is virtually absent from the kidney. In contrast with the liver the kidney possesses 3-oxo acid CoA-transferase (EC 2.8.3.5), and the ready reversibility of this reaction and that of thiolase (EC 2.3.1.9) provide a mechanism for ketone-body formation from acetyl-CoA. This mechanism may apply to extrahepatic tissues generally, with the possible exception of the epithelium of the rumen and intestines.

Acetoacetates↗

Sequential intrahepatic metabolic effects of enteric galactose alimentation in newborn rats.

We determined metabolic responses after enteric galactose alimentation in 5- to 7-day-old newborn rats fasted for 24 h. The glycemic response was attenuated after enteric galactose feeding compared with the response after enteric glucose-fed rat pups. 14C radioactivity in blood from galactose-fed pups was reduced as counts in blood galactose were lower than counts in blood glucose in glucose-fed pups. Nonetheless within 15 min, [14C] from galactose appeared in blood glucose suggesting rapid conversion of galactose to glucose. The plasma insulin response was also attenuated after galactose feeding compared with the insulin response after enteric glucose. Hepatic glycogen content increased rapidly after enteric galactose feeding and was higher than after glucose feeding at 60, 120, and 180 min. Significant glycogen synthesis after oral glucose was delayed and occurred at 240 min. Carbon radioactivity in glycogen was higher in galactose fed pups between 15 and 360 min of the study. Serial determination of hepatic metabolites revealed an increase of galactose-1-phosphate levels after oral galactose at 240 and 300 min and a transient decline of ATP at 15 min. Other hepatic metabolites did not demonstrate significant differences between the two groups. These data suggest that hepatic glycogen synthesis is more rapid and occurs sooner after galactose than after glucose alimentation in previously fasted newborn rats. Galactose may enter a more direct pathway for neonatal hepatic glycogen synthesis. The relatively delayed entry of glucose label into hepatic glycogen and the delay of net glycogen synthesis after oral glucose suggest that glucose entry is not direct and may require further metabolism before incorporation into glycogen.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

[Transfer of glucose from UDP-glucose in microsomal membranes of rat hepatocytes (author's transl)].

Microsomal preparations from rat liver mediate transfer of glucosyl units from UDP-glucose to three different kinds of acceptors: an endogenous glycoprotein, exogenous glycogen and collagen. Both glucosyl transferases work at acidic pH, 6.5 for transfer on endogeneous acceptor and glycogen and at pH 5.5 for transfer on collagen. None of these enzymes require divalent cations for activity. While transfers on endogenous acceptor and glycogen are inhibited by the presence of a non-ionic detergent, Triton X-100, the transfer on collagen is activated by the same detergent. Glycogen-synthase activity requires glucose 6-phosphate at an optimal concentration of 1 mM. The Km values for UDP-glucose are respectively: 0.5 mM, 0.33 mM, and 1 mM for transfer on endogenous acceptor, glycogen and collagen. Characterisation of the product indicates that a protein-bound alpha1-4 glucan is formed when no primer is added. Enzymatic and acidic hydrolyses of radioactive glycogen and collagen show only glucose as a radioactive sugar identified by thin layer chromatography on cellulose. Pre-treatment of microsomal membranes by alpha-amylase demonstrates that glucosyltransferases are not adsorbed on endogenous glycogen and seem to be really membranous enzymes.

Animals↗

De Novo Maltotriose Biosynthesis from the Reducing End by Spinacia oleracea L. Chloroplasts.

The distribution of (14)C in the various glucose residues of maltotriose was studied as a function of time of photosynthesis of isolated chloroplasts of spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) using (14)CO(2). The distribution of label showed that the reducing-end glucose residue was labeled first and the label subsequently distributed to the second and third glucose residues at approximately equal rates.A mechanism for the distribution of label and the synthesis of maltotriose from the reducing end is presented. The mechanism has postulated to be the same as that for the maltose synthase recently described by Schilling. Maltose biosynthesis from alpha-d-glucose-1-phosphate was characterized as involving two glucosyl intermediates by a double displacement mechanism with inversion of configuration. The mode of enzymic action by which maltosyl intermediates were transferred to glucosyl intermediates was consistent with the fractional distribution of radioactivity found in each glucose unit of maltotriose during short term photosynthesis experiments.

Journal Article↗

Partial characterization of the polyisoprenoid carrier of N-acetylglucosamine in Glycine max (soya bean).

Dolichyl phosphate (C55) and dolichyl phosphate prepared from liver were incubated with an enzyme prepared from soya-bean protoplasts. They both stimulated the transfer of radioactivity from UDP-D-glucose to lipid, but the stimulation was greater with liver dolichyl phosphate. Liver dolichyl phosphate with the soya-bean enzyme stimulated the transfer of radioactivity from UDP-N-acetyl-D-[U-14C]glucosamine to acidic lipid. UDP-D-[U-14C]glucose and UDP-N-acetyl-D-[U-14C]glucosamine were used with the soya-bean enzyme to prepare the glycosylated-acid-lipid acceptor of each sugar. Mild acid hydrolysis revealed that the radioactivity in the lipid glucosylated from UDP-glucose was present exclusively as glucose. That in the lipid glycosylated from UDP-N-acetylglucosamine was present mostly as N-acetylglucosamine. The soya-bean acidic-lipid acceptors of glucose and N-acetylglucosamine were stable to both catalytic hydrogenation and treatment with hot aqueous phenol; they behaved in a similar way as authentic alpha-saturated glucosylated polyisoprenyl phosphates. The soya-bean acidic-lipid acceptors of glucose and N-acetylglucosamine were eluted as deoxycholate complexes from a Sephadex column. In comparison with glucosylated polyisoprenyl phosphates of known size, the patterns of elution indicated that both soya-bean lipids contained a polyisoprenoid chain of 18 isoprene units.

Acetylglucosamine↗

Cationic events stimulated by D-glucose in depolarized islet cells.

Pancreatic islets prelabelled with either 86Rb or 45Ca were exposed to a rise in D-glucose concentration from 2.8 to 16.7 mM whilst perifused in the presence of 2 microM glibenclamide, 30 mM extracellular K+ and both 30 mM K+ and 250 microM diazoxide. In all three situations, the rise in glucose concentration provoked a dramatic increase in insulin output, despite unchanged or even increased efflux of 86Rb from the prelabelled islets. Also in all three situations, glucose sharply decreased effluent radioactivity from islets prelabelled with 45Ca but perifused in the absence of extracellular Ca2+, while augmenting 45Ca efflux, to a variable extent, from islets perifused at normal extracellular Ca2+ concentration (1.0 mM). It is proposed, therefore, that the insulinotropic action of D-glucose in depolarized islets, and presumably also under normal conditions, may involve the gating of voltage-insensitive Ca2+ channels.

Animals↗

Preparation, characterization, and microbial degradation of specifically radiolabeled [C]lignocelluloses from marine and freshwater macrophytes.

Specifically radiolabeled [C-lignin]lignocelluloses were prepared from the aquatic macrophytes Spartina alterniflora, Juncus roemerianus, Rhizophora mangle, and Carex walteriana by using [C]phenylalanine, [C]tyrosine, and [C]cinnamic acid as precursors. Specifically radiolabeled [C-polysaccharide]lignocelluloses were prepared by using [C]glucose as precursor. The rates of microbial degradation varied among [C-lignin]lignocelluloses labeled with different lignin precursors within the same plant species. To determine the causes of these differential rates, [C-lignin]lignocelluloses were thoroughly characterized for the distribution of radioactivity in nonlignin contaminants and within the lignin macromolecule. In herbaceous plants, significant amounts (8 to 24%) of radioactivity from [C]phenylalanine and [C]tyrosine were found associated with protein, although very little (3%) radioactivity from [C]cinnamic acid was associated with protein. Microbial degradation of radiolabeled protein resulted in overestimation of lignin degradation rates in lignocelluloses derived from herbaceous aquatic plants. Other differences in degradation rates among [C-lignin]lignocelluloses from the same plant species were attributable to differences in the amount of label being associated with ester-linked subunits of peripheral lignin. After acid hydrolysis of [C-polysaccharide]lignocelluloses, radioactivity was detected in several sugars, although most of the radioactivity was distributed between glucose and xylose. After 576 h of incubation with salt marsh sediments, 38% of the polysaccharide component and between 6 and 16% of the lignin component (depending on the precursor) of J. roemerianus lignocellulose was mineralized to CO(2); during the same incubation period, 30% of the polysaccharide component and between 12 and 18% of the lignin component of S. alterniflora lignocellulose was mineralized.

Journal Article↗

Quercetin glucosides inhibit glucose uptake into brush-border-membrane vesicles of porcine jejunum.

Recent experimental data point to an interaction of dietary flavonol monoglucosides with the intestinal Na-dependent glucose transporter 1 (SGLT1). To investigate this interaction in more detail, we performed experiments with SGLT1-containing brush-border-membrane vesicles (BBMV) from pig jejunum. The flavonol quercetin-3-O-glucoside (Q3G) concentration-dependently inhibited Na-dependent uptake of radioactively labelled d-glucose into BBMV. Uptake of l-leucine was not inhibited by Q3G, indicating a specific interaction of the glucoside with SGLT1. Whereas the maximal transport rate of concentration-dependent initial glucose uptake was not altered in the presence of Q3G, the constant for half-maximal glucose uptake was increased, suggesting a competitive type of inhibition of glucose uptake by Q3G. Trans-stimulation experiments suggested the transport of Q3G via SGLT1. In addition, Q3G decreased the Na-independent diffusive uptake of glucose into BBMV. Other flavonoids were also tested for their inhibitory effect on d-glucose uptake. Among the tested quercetin glycosides, only the 4'-O-glucoside (Q4G) also inhibited Na-dependent glucose uptake into BBMV, whereas the 3-O-galactoside, the 3-O-glucorhamnoside and the aglycone quercetin itself were ineffective. Glucosides of some other flavonoid classes such as naringenin-7-O-glucoside, genistein-7-O-glucoside and cyanidin-3,5-O-diglucoside were ineffective as well. Thus, dietary quercetin monoglucosides, for example, Q3G and Q4G, have an impact on intestinal nutrient transporters such as SGLT1 and related systems.

Animals↗

Amino-sugars enhance recognition and phagocytosis of particles by human neutrophils.

Neutrophils were examined for their ability to recognize and ingest beads coated with amino-derivatives of glucose, mannose, and galactose. Radioactive or fluorescent beads coated with any of the three sugars were ingested to an extent three times that observed with albumin-coated beads. Enhancement of ingestion of sugar-coated beads was much more evident when examined by electron micrographic studies. Inclusion of glucose or mannose in the medium with glucose- or mannose-coated beads caused a dose-dependent reduction of ingestion to control levels, but ingestion of galactose-coated beads was poorly inhibited. Similarly, galactose or fucose (6-deoxy-galactose) markedly inhibited ingestion of galactose-coated beads, but caused only a slight decrease in ingestion of glucose- or mannose-coated beads. Thus, neutrophils possess carbohydrate-binding membrane structures that can mediate recognition and ingestion of sugar-coated beads. Such carbohydrate recognition systems may underlie certain interactions of neutrophils and other surfaces.

Amino Sugars↗