The hyperglycemic factor of the CNS of the freshwater snail Lymnaea stagnalis: Interaction with glucose stimulation of glycogen synthesis and evidence for its release during anaerobiosis

Abstract

In the freshwater pulmonate snail Lymnaea stagnalis glycogen synthesis in the glycogen storage cells (GC) is stimulated by increasing external glucose concentrations. On the other hand, a hyperglycemic factor from the CNS inhibits glycogen synthesis and stimulates glycogen breakdown in these cells. This CNS factor may be involved in the physiological control of glycogen mobilization. In the present study the interaction between the inhibiting effect of the CNS factor and the stimulating effect of increasing glucose concentrations on glycogen synthesis in isolated GC was investigated. The results, analyzed by determination of the Michaelis-Menten parameters for saturation kinetics, suggest that the CNS factor increases the glucose concentration required for half-maximal stimulation of glycogen synthesis, but does not influence the maximum rate of synthesis (competitive type of inhibition). The role of the hyperglycemic factor during conditions of glycogen breakdown was investigated by extirpation of the cerebral ganglia (-CG), which contain the main release sites of the factor. Extirpation did not affect the hemolymph glucose concentration or the glycogen levels in the GC during starvation. However, -CG animals showed reduced levels of the hyperglycemia normally associated with exposure to anaerobic conditions.