Pancreatic islet response to dicarboxylic acid esters in rats with type 2 diabetes: enzymatic, metabolic and secretory aspects

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study aimed to compare the metabolic and secretory responses of pancreatic islets from animals with non-insulin-dependent diabetes to d-glucose with the effects of the methyl esters of succinic acid (SME) and glutamic acid (GME). The insulin secretory response to d-glucose was impaired in islets from rats with diabetes which was either inherited (Goto—Kakizaki (GK) rats) or acquired (streptozotocin-treated (STZ) rats). This coincided with a preferential alteration of oxidative relative to total glycolysis in intact islets and a selective defect of FAD-linked mitochondrial glycerophosphate dehydrogenase (m-GDH) in islet homogenates. This enzymatic defect was also found in purified B cells from STZ rats. It contrasted both with unaltered activities of glutamate dehydrogenase and succinate dehydrogenase in the islets of diabetic animals and with a normal or even increased activity of m-GDH in the livers of GK and STZ rats. The oxidation of [1,4-14C]SME and [U-14C]GME appeared decreased in islets of GK or STZ animals when compared with control rats, but no significant difference between control and diabetic rats was observed when the oxidative data were expressed relative to the rate of [U-14C]GME hydrolysis. Nevertheless, the absolute values for insulin release evoked by a non-metabolized analogue of l-leucine (BCH), by SME and by the association of BCH with either SME or GME were invariably lower in islets of GK and STZ rats than in those of control animals. These findings indicate that the enzymatic and metabolic situation in islets of GK and STZ rats could allow the expression of the insulinotropic potential of SME and GME, even if their immediate secretory effects are impaired in the islets of these diabetic animals.