Post-GLUT-2 defects in β-cells of non-insulin-dependent diabetic obese rats

M. Ohneda, J. H. Johnson, Young H Lee, Y. Nagasawa, Roger H Unger

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats develop non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus concomitantly with loss of glucose responsiveness and GLUT-2, the high-Michaelis constant glucose transporter of β-cells. To determine the integrity of β-cell glucose metabolism distal to the level of glucose transport and phosphorylation, we examined the insulin responses of isolated pancreata to 5, 10, and 20 mM D-glyceraldehyde and monomethylsuccinate, as well as to glucose. The insulin response of diabetic pancreata to glucose was 90% below the response prior to the onset of diabetes, whereas the responses to glyceraldehyde and succinate had declined to 65 and 44%, respectively, below the prediabetic responses. D-[14C]glyceraldehyde oxidation by diabetic islets was 74% below that of islets from lean nondiabetic controls. We conclude that 1) the insulin responses to glyceraldehyde and monomethylsuccinate, as well as to glucose, are impaired in the diabetes of ZDF rats and 2) the impairment of the glucose response was greater than that of the glyceraldehyde response, which was, in turn, greater than that of the monomethylsuccinate response; this decrescendo pattern of impairment is consistent with defects at multiple sites in glucose metabolism; if the defect were entirely due to a postmetabolic signaling defect, the impairment to glucose and its metabolites should be comparable.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)E968-E974
JournalAmerican Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and Metabolism
Volume267
Issue number6 30-6
DOIs
StatePublished - 1994

Keywords

  • Zucker diabetic fatty rats
  • glyceraldehyde
  • monomethylsuccinate

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
  • Physiology
  • Physiology (medical)

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Post-GLUT-2 defects in β-cells of non-insulin-dependent diabetic obese rats'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this