Insulin Release from the Isolated Perfused Rat Pancreas Containing Insulinomata Induced by Streptozotocin and Nicotinamide: Effects of Glucose and Responses to Tumor Removal

Abstract

The kinetics of insulin secretion in response to glucose were studied in the in vitro perfused rat pancreas before and after removal of islet cell tumors induced by streptozotocin and nicotinamide. In addition, insulin secretion before and after tumor removal was compared with that from normal pancreata before and after sham operations, respectively. Thus, the two pancreas preparations were subjected to repeated perfusions with glucose. Perfusion of pancreata containing tumors with 8.4 mM glucose resulted in biphasic release in a pattern similar to that of normal pancreas. However, both basal and stimulated insulin secretion of tumor-bearing pancreata were greater than either those of pancreata from which tumors had been excluded by ligature or those of normal pancreata before sham operation. A second increase in the concentration of glucose from 2.8 to 8.4 mM also produced a biphasic release of insulin from extratumoral pancreata as well as from sham-operated normal pancreata. However, the insulin secretory response to glucose of extratumoral pancreatic tissue was less than that of control pancreatic tissue. Our findings indicate that pancreatic islet cell tumors induced by streptozotocin and nicotinamide respond to glucose with typical biphasic insulin release. Thus, chemically induced rat insulinomata may provide a readily available and valuable model of insulin-secreting tissue, analogous to normal islets. Furthermore, our study suggests that the B cell function of pancreata containing tumors is inhibited by the preexisting tumor-induced hyperinsulinism or by its metabolic consequences.