In the GK rat model of type 2 diabetes, adenylyl cyclase (AC) expression and stimulation are increased. Whether the prevalent glucose level has any effects on AC responses is, however, unclear. We have studied concurrent insulin release and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) generation in response to 5 microM forskolin in islets cultured for 48 hours in 5.5 or 11 mM glucose. Insulin release was impaired in GK rat islets, irrespective of culture condition, in response to 3.3 and 16.7 mM glucose and was fully restored by forskolin through exaggerated insulin responses. Stimulation of normal islets with 5 microM forskolin elicited different islet cAMP responses, which were dependent on the dose of glucose in the culture medium. Thus in normal islets cultured in 11 mM glucose, forskolin increased cAMP levels fivefold to sixfold at 3.3 and 16.7 mM glucose, whereas forskolin increased cAMP levels only twofold in islets cultured at 5.5 mM glucose. In GK islets, forskolin induced a consistently exaggerated approximately eightfold increase in cAMP generation irrespective of glucose concentration in the culture medium. In conclusion, culturing normal islets at hyperglycemic glucose levels (11 mM) primed and markedly enhanced cAMP generation in response to forskolin.