The effects of a 60% partial pancreatectomy were studied in hyperglycemic GK (Goto–Kakizaki) rats. Partial pancreatectomy or a sham operation was performed on 12-week-old female Wistar rats, GK rats or hybrids between male GK rats and female Wistar rats. Measurements of pancreatic blood flow and islet blood flow were performed by a microsphere technique 2 weeks after surgery. Glucose tolerance was decreased in hybrid compared with Wistar rats, and in GK rats compared with both hybrid and Wistar rats before surgery. Partial pancreatectomy induced minor changes in glucose tolerance. Wistar rats had a decreased islet mass following partial pancreatectomy. Both hybrid and GK rats showed a significant decrease in relative islet volume, but only GK rats in total islet mass, compared with Wistar rats 2 weeks after surgery. Pancreatic blood flow and islet blood flow did not significantly differ between sham-operated Wistar, hybrid or GK rats. After partial pancreatectomy, islet blood flow in relation to islet mass increased 3-fold in Wistar rats and 2-fold in hybrid rats. In contrast, GK rats showed no increase in islet blood flow following partial pancreatectomy. It is concluded that compensatory mechanisms after partial pancreatectomy are operating less effciently in hybrid and GK rats.

The protein nucleobindin-2 (NUCB2, also known as nesfatin) was recently implicated as a mediator of anorexia and catabolism in the central nervous system, and has been suggested to act as a cleaved and secreted messenger. Given the overlap of signalling molecules between the brain and pancreas, we have explored the presence of NUCB2 in the islets of Langerhans. We also performed an investigation of the dynamic regulation of pancreatic NUCB2 in different metabolic states. NUCB2-like immunoreactivity was detected by immunofluorescence in all human and rat islet β-cells (as detected by co-localization with insulin), but not in other islet cells or in the exocrine pancreas. Islet NUCB2 content, as measured by enzyme immunoassay, did not change significantly following an overnight fast, but was substantially lower in islets isolated from an animal model of type 2 diabetes, the Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rats (48% of non-diabetic Wistar rat control). Serum levels, however, were not different between Wistar and GK rats. The release of NUCB2 from isolated rat islets was significantly elevated following glucose challenge (123%), but this effect was substantially lower than that observed for insulin (816%). In contrast, serum levels of NUCB2 showed a reversible decrease in an i.p. glucose tolerance test. These data suggest a role for NUCB2 in β-cell function and a potential involvement in diabetic pathology. However, our findings, together with previous reports, appear more compatible with intracellular actions rather than with endocrine/paracrine communication, and suggest that NUCB2 in serum derives primarily from non-islet sources.

We recently showed that phanoside, a gypenoside isolated from the plant Gynostemma pentaphyllum, stimulates insulin secretion from rat pancreatic islets. To study the mechanisms by which phanoside stimulates insulin secretion. Isolated pancreatic islets of normal Wistar (W) rats and spontaneously diabetic Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rats were batch incubated or perifused. At both 3.3 and 16.7 mM glucose, phanoside stimulated insulin secretion several fold in both W and diabetic GK rat islets. In perifusion of W islets, phanoside (75 and 150 μM) dose dependently increased insulin secretion that returned to basal levels when phanoside was omitted. When W rat islets were incubated at 3.3 mM glucose with 150 μM phanoside and 0.25 mM diazoxide to keep K-ATP channels open, insulin secretion was similar to that in islets incubated in 150 μM phanoside alone. At 16.7 mM glucose, phanoside-stimulated insulin secretion was reduced in the presence of 0.25 mM diazoxide (P<0.01). In W islets depolarized by 50 mM KCl and with diazoxide, phanoside stimulated insulin release twofold at 3.3 mM glucose but did not further increase the release at 16.7 mM glucose. When using nimodipine to block L-type Ca²⁺ channels in B-cells, phanoside-induced insulin secretion was unaffected at 3.3 mM glucose but decreased at 16.7 mM glucose (P<0.01). Pretreatment of islets with pertussis toxin to inhibit exocytotic G_e-protein did not affect insulin response to 150 μM phanoside. Phanoside stimulated insulin secretion from Wand GK rat islets. This effect seems to be exerted distal to K-ATP channels and L-type Ca²⁺ channels, which is on the exocytotic machinery of the B-cells.