Fuel secretagogue stimulation of arachidonic acid accumulation in fresh and cultured pancreatic islets

Leucine metabolism in regulation of insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells

Leucine, a branched-chain amino acid that must be supplied in the daily diet, plays an important role in controlling protein synthesis and regulating cell metabolism in various cell types. In pancreatic beta cells, leucine acutely stimulates insulin secretion by serving as both metabolic fuel and allosteric activator of glutamate dehydrogenase to enhance glutaminolysis. Leucine has also been shown to regulate gene transcription and protein synthesis in pancreatic islet beta cells via both mTOR-dependent and -independent pathways at physiological concentrations. Long-term treatment with leucine has been shown to improve insulin secretory dysfunction of human diabetic islets via upregulation of certain key metabolic genes. In vivo, leucine administration improves glycemic control in humans and rodents with type 2 diabetes. This review summarizes and discusses the recent findings regarding the effects of leucine metabolism on pancreatic beta-cell function.

Dietary fatty acids modify insulin secretion of rat pancreatic islet cells in vitro

The type of dietary fat affects the action of insulin by changes induced in the fatty acid composition of cell membranes. Little is known, however, about the effects of dietary fatty acids on insulin secretion or the possible relation between the fatty acid composition of the membrane phospholipids and insulin secretion. We therefore studied the effects of dietary fatty acids on insulin secretion stimulated by glucose, forskolin and arginine, and on the insulin content of isolated pancreatic islets, as well as on the fatty acid composition of muscle phospholipids, which were used as markers of the diet-induced modifications in the cell membranes. Five groups of rats were fed for one month with diets varying only in their fat composition: olive oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, fish oil and palmitic acid (16:0) + soybean oil (SAT). The SAT group had higher insulin secretion, independently of the secretagogue used. No significant differences were found in insulin content between the groups. The dietary fatty acids modified the fatty acid composition of the muscle phospholipids, both in endogenously synthesized fatty acids and in those which were unable to be synthesized by the organism. No statistically significant relation was found between insulin secretion and the content of certain fatty acids in the muscle phospholipids.

The molecular biology of the group VIA Ca2+-independent phospholipase A2

The group VIA PLA2 is a member of the PLA2 superfamily. This enzyme, which is cytosolic and Ca2+-independent, has been designated iPLA2beta to distinguish it from another recently cloned Ca2+-independent PLA2. Features of iPLA2beta molecular structure offer some insight into possible cellular functions of the enzyme. At least two catalytically active iPLA2beta isoforms and additionalsplicing variants are derived from a single gene that consists of at least 17 exons located on human chromosome 22q13.1. Potential tumor suppressor genes also reside at or near this locus. Structural analyses reveal that iPLA2beta contains unique structural features that include a serine lipase consensus motif (GXSXG), a putative ATP-binding domain, an ankyrin-repeat domain, a caspase-3 cleavage motif DVTD138Y/N, a bipartite nuclear localization signal sequence, and a proline-rich region in the human long isoform. iPLA2beta is widely expressed among mammalian tissues, with highest expression in testis and brain. iPLA2beta prefers to hydrolyze fatty acid at the sn-2 fatty acid substituent but also exhibits phospholipase A1, lysophospholipase, PAF acetylhydrolase, and transacylase activities. iPLA2beta may participate in signaling, apoptosis, membrane phospholipid remodeling, membrane homeostasis, arachidonate release, and exocytotic membrane fusion. Structural features and the existence of multiple splicing variants of iPLA2beta suggest that iPLA2beta may be subject to complex regulatory mechanisms that differ among cell types. Further study of its regulation and interaction with other proteins may yield insight into how its structural features are related to its function.

Mass spectrometric evidence that agents that cause loss of Ca2+ from intracellular compartments induce hydrolysis of arachidonic acid from pancreatic islet membrane phospholipids by a mechanism that does not require a rise in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration

Stimulation of pancreatic islets with glucose induces phospholipid hydrolysis and accumulation of nonesterified arachidonic acid, which may amplify the glucose-induced Ca2+ entry into islet beta-cells that triggers insulin secretion. Ca2+ loss from beta-cell intracellular compartments has been proposed to induce both Ca2+ entry and events dependent on arachidonate metabolism. We examine here effects of inducing Ca2+ loss from intracellular sequestration sites with ionophore A23187 and thapsigargin on arachidonate hydrolysis from islet phospholipids. A23187 induces a decline in islet arachidonate-containing phospholipids and release of nonesterified arachidonate. A23187-induced arachidonate release is of similar magnitude when islets are stimulated in Ca2+-replete or in Ca2+-free media or when islets loaded with the intracellular Ca2+ chelator BAPTA are stimulated in Ca2+-free medium, a condition in which A23187 induces no rise in beta-cell cytosolic [Ca2+]. Thapsigargin also induces islet arachidonate release under these conditions. A23187- or thapsigargin-induced arachidonate release is prevented by a bromoenol lactone (BEL) inhibitor of a beta-cell phospholipase A2 (iPLA2), which does not require Ca2+ for catalytic activity and which is negatively modulated by and physically interacts with calmodulin by Ca2+-dependent mechanisms. Agents that cause Ca2+ loss from islet intracellular compartments thus induce arachidonate hydrolysis from phospholipids by a BEL-sensitive mechanism that does not require a rise in cytosolic [Ca2+], and a BEL-sensitive enzyme-like iPLA2 or a related membranous activity may participate in sensing Ca2+ compartment content.

Glucose-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of p125 in beta cells and pancreatic islets. A novel proximal signal in insulin secretion

In this study, we demonstrate that stimulation of beta cells with carbachol and glucose causes increased tyrosine phosphorylation of a 125-kDa protein concurrently with increased insulin secretion. The effect was observed in two different insulin-secreting cell lines and in rat pancreatic islets. Tyrosine phosphorylation was largely calcium independent and occurred within 2 min after stimulation of beta cells with glucose and the muscarinic agonist carbachol. In islets, the effect of glucose was greatly diminished by the addition of mannoheptulose, a seven-carbon sugar that inhibits glucokinase, suggesting that glucose metabolism is required for tyrosine phosphorylation of the protein to occur. Neither insulin nor insulin-like growth factor I significantly increased tyrosine phosphorylation of the 125-kDa protein, suggesting that it was not an autocrine effect. Depolarization of beta cells with glyburide or 50 m potassium dramatically increased insulin secretion but had no significant effect on tyrosine phosphorylation. Addition of phorbol ester caused a less than 2-fold increase in tyrosine phosphorylation, whereas the calcium ionophore A23187 had no effect. Among the various fuel secretagogues tested, only -glucose stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation, both alone and in combination with carbachol. Finally, the tyrosine kinase inhibitor AG879 inhibited both tyrosine phosphorylation and insulin secretion in a dose-dependent manner. Taken together, these data demonstrate the presence of a novel signaling pathway in glucose-induced insulin secretion: tyrosine phosphorylation of beta cell p125, which is a proximal step in insulin secretion. Our current working hypothesis is that glucose stimulation of beta cell p125 tyrosine phosphorylation is an essential step for insulin secretion.

Characterization of expression of phosphofructokinase isoforms in isolated rat pancreatic islets and purified beta cells and cloning and expression of the rat phosphofructokinase-A isoform

Phosphofructokinase (PFK) plays a key role in regulating glycolytic flux, and the mammalian enzyme is a tetramer. Three monomeric isoforms are encoded by separate genes, are differentially expressed in specific tissues, and are designated by tissues in which they are most abundant (A, muscle; B, liver; and C, brain). Glucose-induced insulin secretion from pancreatic islets requires glucose transport into islet beta-cells and glycolytic metabolism. Little is known about islet PFK isozymes, but the possibility that PFK-A is expressed in beta-cells is of interest because that isoform is thought to govern glycolytic oscillations and to interact with a metabolically activated beta-cell phospholipase A2 enzyme. Using as probe a PCR product generated from rat islet RNA with primers designed from the human PFK-A sequence, we have cloned a full-length PFK-A cDNA from a rat islet cDNA library. The rat PFK-A deduced amino-acid sequence is 96% identical to that of human PFK-A, and all residues thought to participate in substrate or allosteric effector binding are conserved between the two sequences. The rat PFK-A amino-acid sequence is 69% and 68% identical to those for rat PFK-B and rat PFK-C, respectively, and differences in residues involved in binding of allosteric effectors were observed among the three isoforms. Rat PFK-A expressed as a glutathione-S-transferase fusion protein was recognized by antibodies raised against a peptide in the PFK-A sequence. Expression of PFK isoform mRNA species was examined by RT-PCR in rat islets, in purified populations of beta-cells prepared by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), and in RIN-m5F insulinoma cells, all of which expressed mRNA species for PFK-A, -B, and -C isoforms. PFK-A mRNA was expressed at much lower levels in an islet alpha-cell-enriched population. Interleukin-1 impairs islet glucose metabolism and insulin secretion and was found to induce a specific decline in islet expression of PFK-A mRNA. These findings establish the sequence of rat PFK-A, demonstrate that it is expressed in FACS-purified islet beta-cells, and suggest that its expression is regulated by a cytokine which influences insulin secretion.

Interleukin-1 enhances pancreatic islet arachidonic acid 12-lipoxygenase product generation by increasing substrate availability through a nitric oxide-dependent mechanism

Interleukin-1 (IL-1) impairs insulin secretion from pancreatic islets and may contribute to the pathogenesis of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. IL-1 increases islet expression of nitric oxide (NO) synthase, and the resultant overproduction of NO participates in inhibition of insulin secretion because NO synthase inhibitors, e.g. NG-monomethyl-arginine (NMMA), prevent this inhibition. While exploring effects of IL-1 on islet arachidonic acid metabolism, we found that IL-1 increases islet production of the 12-lipoxygenase product 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid 12-(HETE). This effect requires NO production and is prevented by NMMA. Exploration of the mechanism of this effect indicates that it involves increased availability of the substrate arachidonic acid rather than enhanced expression of 12-lipoxygenase. Evidence supporting this conclusion includes the facts that IL-1 does not increase islet 12-lipoxygenase protein or mRNA levels and does not enhance islet conversion of exogenous arachidonate to 12-HETE. Mass spectrometric stereochemical analyses nonetheless indicate that 12-HETE produced by IL-1-treated islets consists only of the S-enantiomer and thus arises from enzyme action. IL-1 does enhance release of nonesterified arachidonate from islets, as measured by isotope dilution mass spectrometry, and this effect is suppressed by NMMA and mimicked by the NO-releasing compound 3-morpholinosydnonimine. Although IL-1 increases neither islet phospholipase A2 (PLA2) activities nor mRNA levels for cytosolic or secretory PLA2, a suicide substrate which inhibits an islet Ca(2+)-independent PLA2 prevents enhancement of islet arachidonate release by IL-1. IL-1 also impairs esterification of [3H8]arachidonate into islet phospholipids, and this effect is prevented by NMMA and mimicked by the mitochondrial ATP-synthase inhibitor oligomycin. Experiments with exogenous substrates indicate that NMMA does not inhibit and that the NO-releasing compound does not activate islet 12-lipoxygenase or PLA2 activities. These results indicate that a novel action of NO is to increase levels of nonesterified arachidonic acid in islets.

Muscarinic regulation of Alzheimer's disease amyloid precursor protein secretion and amyloid beta-protein production in human neuronal NT2N cells

The Alzheimer amyloid precursor protein (APP) undergoes complex processing resulting in the production of a 4-kDa amyloid peptide (A beta) which has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. Recent studies have shown that cells can secrete carboxyl terminus truncated APP derivatives (APP-S) in response to physiological stimulus. We have used human central nervous system neurons (NT2N) derived from a teratocarcinoma cell line (NT2) to study the signal transduction pathways involved in APP-S secretion and A beta production. Muscarinic receptors (m2 and m3) as well as the heterotrimeric GTP-binding protein Gq and the beta 1 isoform of phospholipase C were present in NT2N neurons. Stimulation of the muscarinic receptor with carbachol resulted in phospholipase C activation as shown by a transient increase in the second messengers 1,2-diacyl-sn-glycerol and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate. Carbachol also caused an increase in intracellular Ca2+ levels measured in single NT2N neurons. Under these conditions, carbachol caused a time-dependent 2-fold increase in APP-S secretion into the medium. In contrast, prolonged treatment with carbachol caused a decrease in A beta production into the medium. These results suggest that APP-S secretion and A beta production in NT2N neurons are regulated by the muscarinic/phospholipase C signal transduction pathway. Furthermore, activation of this pathway results in dissociation of APP-S secretion and A beta production.

Diacylglycerol hydrolysis to arachidonic acid is necessary for insulin secretion from isolated pancreatic islets: sequential actions of diacylglycerol and monoacylglycerol lipases

Arachidonic acid has been implicated as a second messenger in insulin secretion on the basis of (1) mobilization of intracellular Ca2+ from the endoplasmic reticulum of islets and (2) amplification of voltage-dependent Ca2+ entry. The insulin secretagogues D-glucose and the muscarinic agonist carbachol both increase unesterified arachidonic acid accumulation in isolated islets. We now show that diacylglycerol, a product of phospholipase C action, is a major source of free arachidonic acid in islets. Diacylglycerol hydrolysis in islets occurs through a two-step process. In the first step, the sn-1 bond of 1-stearoyl-2-arachidonyl-sn-glycerol is hydrolyzed by a diacylglycerol lipase, giving rise to 2-arachidonyl-sn-glycerol. Next, the sn-2 bond of 2-arachidonyl-sn-glycerol is hydrolyzed by a monoacylglycerol lipase, which is the rate-limiting step, releasing unesterified arachidonic acid. Both diacylglycerol lipase and monoacylglycerol lipase are highly enriched in the plasma membrane of beta-cells. Diacylglycerol lipase activity in islet homogenates is selectively inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by the compound RHC-80267, a specific diacylglycerol lipase inhibitor. RHC-80267 inhibits glucose- and carbachol-induced insulin release from intact islets in a dose-dependent manner that parallels its inhibition of diacylglycerol lipase activity. Importantly, RHC-80267, at concentrations that almost completely inhibit diacylglycerol lipase activity and glucose- and carbachol-induced insulin secretion by islets, markedly inhibits glucose- and carbachol-induced increases in islet arachidonic acid levels, as measured by gas chromatography with electron-capture detection of its pentafluorobenzyl esters. RHC-80267 did not significantly affect islet glucose oxidation, phospholipase C, monoacylglycerol lipase, or phospholipase A2. Since glucose and carbachol are known to stimulate phospholipase C, our observations indicate that diacylglycerol is an important source of arachidonic acid and other free fatty acids in islets. Furthermore, production of arachidonic acid from the hydrolysis of diacylglycerol is essential for glucose- and carbachol-induced insulin secretion.

Mass spectrometric characterization of arachidonate-containing plasmalogens in human pancreatic islets and in rat islet beta-cells and subcellular membranes

Pancreatic islets, when stimulated with D-glucose, secrete insulin by processes requiring glycolytic metabolism and generation of ATP. Hydrolysis of membrane phospholipids also occurs in glucose-stimulated islets, resulting in accumulation of nonesterified arachidonate, which facilitates Ca2+ entry and the rise in beta-cell [Ca2+] that triggers insulin secretion. Glucose-induced hydrolysis of arachidonate from islet phospholipids is mediated in part by an ATP-stimulated, Ca(2+)-independent (ASCI) phospholipase A2 (PLA2) which prefers plasmenyl over diacyl phospholipid substrates. Here we characterize the endogenous plasmalogen content of islet cells and subcellular membranes. Fast atom bombardment mass spectrometric analyses demonstrated that three of the most abundant molecular species of ethanolamine phospholipids in rat pancreatic islets were plasmalogens with sn-2 arachidonate residues and palmitic, oleic, or stearic aldehyde residues, respectively, in the sn-1 position. Purified populations of beta-cells prepared by fluorescence-activated cell sorting were also found to contain these plasmenylethanolamine molecular species in abundance similar to that in intact islets and greater than that in islet alpha-cells. Both islet plasma membranes (PM) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) also contained these plasmenylethanolamine species, which accounted for 42% (PM) to 64% (ER) of the ethanolamine phospholipid arachidonate content of these membranes, as measured by stable isotope dilution mass spectrometry. Plasmenylethanolamine species were also abundant constituents of human pancreatic islets (accounting for 58% of their ethanolamine phospholipid arachidonate content) and were hydrolyzed more rapidly than diacyl ethanolamine phospholipid by human islet cytosolic ASCI-PLA2. Both secretagogue-induced eicosanoid release and insulin secretion from human islets were attenuated by an ASCI-PLA2 suicide substrate which sterically resembles plasmalogens. These observations are consistent with the hypotheses that islet beta-cell ASCI-PLA2-catalyzed hydrolysis of arachidonate from endogenous plasmenylethanolamine substrates may occur in membrane compartments which participate in regulation of the beta-cell cytosolic [Ca2+] and that this may be an intermediary biochemical event in the induction of insulin secretion.